Jeremiah
Jeremiah
Jeremiah
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1These are the messages of <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> was the son of a man named<br />
Hilkiah. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> belonged to the family of<br />
priests that lived in the city of Anathoth.* That<br />
city is in the land that belongs to the family<br />
group of Benjamin. 2The Lord began to speak<br />
to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> during the days when Josiah was<br />
king of the nation of Judah. Josiah was the son<br />
of a man named Amon. The Lord began to<br />
speak to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> in the 13th year that Josiah<br />
was king.* 3The Lord continued to speak to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> while Jehoiakim was king of Judah.<br />
Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. The Lord<br />
continued to speak to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> during the<br />
eleven years and five months that Zedekiah<br />
was king of Judah. Zedekiah was also a son of<br />
Josiah. In the fifth month of Zedekiah’s<br />
eleventh year as king, the people that lived in<br />
Jerusalem were taken away into exile.<br />
God Calls <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
4The Lord’s message came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
This message was from the Lord:<br />
5 “Before I made you in your mother’s body,<br />
I knew you.<br />
Before you were born,<br />
I chose you for a special work.<br />
I chose you to be a prophet<br />
to the nations.”<br />
6Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said, “But Lord All-<br />
Powerful, I don’t know how to speak. I am<br />
only a boy.”<br />
priests that lived in the city of Anathoth These priests<br />
probably belonged to the family of the priest Abiathar.<br />
Abiathar was a high priest in Jerusalem during the time David<br />
was king. He was sent away to Anathoth by King Solomon.<br />
See 1 Kings 2:26.<br />
13th year that Josiah was king That is 627 B.C.<br />
853<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
7But the Lord said to me,<br />
“Don’t say, ‘I am only a boy.’<br />
You must go everywhere I send you.<br />
You must say everything I tell you to say.<br />
8 Don’t be afraid of anyone.<br />
I am with you,<br />
and I will protect you.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
9Then the Lord reached out with his hand<br />
and touched my mouth. The Lord said to me,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, I am putting my words<br />
in your mouth.<br />
10 Today I have put you in charge<br />
of nations and kingdoms.<br />
You will pull up and tear down.<br />
You will destroy and overthrow.<br />
You will build up and plant.”<br />
Two Visions<br />
11The Lord’s message came to me. This<br />
message was from the Lord: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, what<br />
do you see?”<br />
I answered the Lord and said, “I see a stick<br />
made from almond wood.”<br />
12The Lord said to me, “You have seen<br />
very well. And I am watching* to make sure<br />
that my message to you comes true.”<br />
13The Lord’s message came to me again.<br />
This was the Lord’s message: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, what<br />
do you see?”<br />
I answered the Lord and said, “I see a pot<br />
of boiling water. That pot is tipping over from<br />
the north.”<br />
watching This is a word play. “Shaqed” is the Hebrew word for<br />
“almond wood,” and “shoqed” means “watching.”
JEREMIAH 1:14–2:7<br />
14 The Lord said to me,<br />
“Something terrible will come<br />
from the north.<br />
It will happen to all the people<br />
that live in this country.<br />
15 In a short time I will call all of the people<br />
in the northern kingdoms.”<br />
The Lord said those things.<br />
“The kings of those countries will come<br />
and set up their thrones<br />
near the gates of Jerusalem.<br />
They will attack the city walls of Jerusalem.<br />
They will attack all the cities in Judah.<br />
16 And I will announce my judgment<br />
against my people.<br />
I will do this because they are bad people<br />
and they have turned against me.<br />
My people left me.<br />
They offered sacrifices to other gods.<br />
They worshiped idols that they had made<br />
with their own hands.<br />
17 “As for you, <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, get ready.<br />
Stand up and speak to the people.<br />
Tell them everything that I tell you to say.<br />
Don’t be afraid of the people.<br />
If you are afraid of the people,<br />
then I will give you good reason<br />
to be afraid of them.<br />
18 As for me, today I will make you<br />
like a strong city,<br />
an iron column,<br />
a bronze wall.<br />
You will be able to stand<br />
against everyone in the land,<br />
against the kings of the land of Judah,<br />
against the leaders of Judah,<br />
against the priests of Judah,<br />
and against the people of the land<br />
of Judah.<br />
19 All those people will fight against you,<br />
but they will not defeat you.<br />
Why? Because I am with you,<br />
and I will save you.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
Judah Was Not Faithful<br />
2The Lord’s message came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
This message was from the Lord:<br />
2“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go and speak to the people of<br />
Jerusalem. Say to them:<br />
854<br />
“‘At the time you were a young nation,<br />
you were faithful to me.<br />
You followed me like a young bride.<br />
You followed me through the desert,<br />
through a land that had never been used<br />
for farm land.<br />
3 The people of Israel were a holy gift<br />
to the Lord.<br />
They were the first fruit to be gathered<br />
by the Lord.<br />
Any people that tried to hurt them<br />
were judged guilty.<br />
Bad things happened to those<br />
wicked people.’”<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
4 Family of Jacob, hear the Lord’s message.<br />
Family groups of Israel, hear the message.<br />
5 This is what the Lord says:<br />
“Do you think that I was not fair<br />
to your ancestors*?<br />
Is that why they turned away from me?<br />
Your ancestors worshiped worthless idols,<br />
and they became worthless themselves.<br />
6 Your ancestors did not say,<br />
‘The Lord brought us from Egypt.<br />
The Lord led us through the desert.<br />
The Lord led us through a dry<br />
and rocky land.<br />
The Lord led us through a dark<br />
and dangerous land.<br />
No people live there.<br />
People don’t even travel through<br />
that land.<br />
But the Lord led us through that land.<br />
So where is the Lord now?’<br />
7 {The Lord says,}<br />
“I brought you into a good land,<br />
a land filled with many good things.<br />
I did this so you could eat the fruit and crops<br />
that grow there.<br />
But you only made my land ‘dirty.’<br />
I gave that land to you,<br />
but you made it a bad place.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.
8 “The priests did not ask,<br />
‘Where is the Lord?’<br />
The people that know the law<br />
did not want to know me.<br />
The leaders of the people of Israel<br />
turned against me.<br />
The prophets prophesied* in the name<br />
of the false god Baal.*<br />
They worshiped worthless idols.”<br />
9 The Lord says,<br />
“So now I will accuse you again,<br />
And I will also accuse<br />
your grandchildren.<br />
10 Go across the sea to the Islands<br />
of Kittim.*<br />
Send someone to the land of Kedar.*<br />
Look very carefully.<br />
See if any person has ever done<br />
something like this.<br />
11 Has any nation ever stopped worshiping<br />
their old gods so they could worship<br />
new gods?<br />
No! And their gods are not really gods at all!<br />
But my people<br />
stopped worshiping their glorious God<br />
and started worshiping idols<br />
that are worth nothing.<br />
12 “Skies, be shocked at the things<br />
that have happened!<br />
Shake with great fear!”<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
13 “My people have done two evil things.<br />
They turned away from me<br />
(I am the spring of living water),<br />
and they dug their own water cisterns.<br />
(They turned to other gods.)<br />
But their cisterns are broken.<br />
Those cisterns can’t hold water.<br />
prophesied Or, “spoke.”<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
Islands of Kittim The name means the Island of Cyprus. But<br />
the name was often used for the other islands and coastlands<br />
of the Mediterranean Sea.<br />
Kedar This was the name of an Arabian family group that lived<br />
in the desert to the east of Palestine.<br />
855 JEREMIAH 2:8–21<br />
14 “Have the people of Israel become slaves?<br />
Have they become like a person<br />
that was born a slave?<br />
Why did people take the wealth<br />
from the people of Israel?<br />
15 Young lions’ (enemies) roar at Israel.<br />
The lions growl.<br />
Lions have destroyed the land of Israel.<br />
The cities of Israel have been burned.<br />
There are no people left in them.<br />
16 People from Memphis and Tahpanhes*<br />
have smashed the top of your head.<br />
17 This trouble is your own fault!<br />
The Lord your God<br />
was leading you the right way,*<br />
but you turned away from him.<br />
18 People of Judah, think about this:<br />
Did it help to go to Egypt?<br />
Did it help to drink<br />
from the Nile River? No!<br />
Did it help to go to Assyria?<br />
Did it help to drink from<br />
the Euphrates River? No!<br />
19 You did bad things,<br />
and those bad things will only<br />
bring punishment to you.<br />
Trouble will come to you.<br />
And that trouble will teach you a lesson.<br />
Think about it!<br />
Then you will understand how bad it is<br />
to turn away from your God.<br />
It is wrong not to fear and respect me!”<br />
This message was from my Master,<br />
the Lord All-Powerful.<br />
20 “Judah, a long time ago you threw off<br />
your yoke.<br />
You broke the ropes<br />
{that I used to control you}.<br />
You said to me,<br />
‘I will not serve you!’<br />
You were like a prostitute<br />
on every high hill<br />
and under every green tree.*<br />
21 Judah, I planted you like a special vine.<br />
All of you were like good seed.<br />
Memphis and Tahpanhes Two cities in Egypt.<br />
was leading … way This line is not in the Greek translation.<br />
prostitute … green tree This means the people worshiped their<br />
false gods in these places.
JEREMIAH 2:22–36<br />
856<br />
22<br />
23<br />
24<br />
25<br />
How did you turn into a different vine that<br />
grows bad fruit?<br />
Even if you wash yourself with lye,*<br />
even if you use much soap,<br />
I can still see your guilt.”<br />
This message was from the Lord God.<br />
“Judah, how can you say to me,<br />
‘I am not guilty;<br />
I have not worshiped the Baal* idols’?<br />
Think about the things you did in the valley.<br />
Think about what you have done.<br />
You are like a fast she-camel<br />
that runs from place to place.<br />
You are like a wild donkey<br />
that lives in the desert.<br />
At mating time, she sniffs (smells)<br />
the wind.<br />
No person can bring her back<br />
at the time she is in heat.<br />
At mating time, every male that wants her<br />
will get her.<br />
It is easy to find her.<br />
Judah, stop chasing after idols!<br />
Stop being thirsty for those other gods.<br />
But you say, ‘It is no use! I can’t quit!<br />
I love those other gods.<br />
I want to worship them.’<br />
29<br />
30<br />
31<br />
32<br />
Let’s see if those idols come<br />
and save you when you are in trouble.<br />
Judah, you have as many idols as cities!<br />
“Why do you argue with me?<br />
All of you have turned against me.”<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
“I punished you people of Judah,<br />
but it did not help.<br />
You did not come back when you<br />
were punished.<br />
You killed with your swords the prophets<br />
that came to you.<br />
You were like a dangerous lion and you<br />
killed the prophets.”<br />
People of this generation, pay attention<br />
to the Lord’s message!<br />
“Have I been like a desert<br />
to the people of Israel?<br />
Have I been like a dark and dangerous land<br />
to them?<br />
My people say,<br />
‘We are free to go our own way.<br />
We will not come back to you, Lord!’<br />
Why do they say those things?<br />
A young woman doesn’t forget<br />
her jewelry.<br />
A bride doesn’t forget the sash for her dress.<br />
But my people have forgotten me<br />
too many times to count.<br />
26 “A thief is ashamed when people catch him.<br />
In the same way,<br />
the people of Israel are ashamed,<br />
the kings and leaders are ashamed,<br />
and the priests and prophets are ashamed.<br />
27 Those people talk to pieces of wood!<br />
They say, ‘You are my father.’<br />
Those people speak to a rock.<br />
They say, ‘You gave birth to me.’<br />
All those people will be ashamed.<br />
Those people don’t look at me.<br />
They have turned their backs to me.<br />
But when the people of Judah<br />
get into trouble, they say to me,<br />
‘Come and save us!’<br />
28 Let those idols come and save you!<br />
Where are the idols<br />
that you have made for yourselves?<br />
lye A chemical that is used like soap.<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
33 “Judah, you really know how<br />
to chase after lovers (false gods).<br />
You have really learned to do evil things.<br />
34 You have blood on your hands!<br />
It is the blood of the poor,<br />
innocent people.<br />
You did not catch those people<br />
breaking into your house!<br />
You killed them for no reason!<br />
35 But still, you say,<br />
‘I am innocent.<br />
God is not angry with me.’<br />
So I will also judge you guilty {of lying}.<br />
Why? Because you say,<br />
‘I have done nothing wrong.’<br />
36 It is so easy for you to change your mind.<br />
Assyria disappointed you,<br />
{so you left Assyria<br />
and went to Egypt for help.}<br />
But Egypt will also disappoint you.
857 JEREMIAH 2:37–3:13<br />
37 So you will eventually leave Egypt, too. The Two Bad Sisters: Israel and Judah<br />
And you will hide your face in shame.<br />
You trusted those countries.<br />
But the Lord rejected those countries,<br />
6The Lord spoke to me during the time<br />
King Josiah was ruling the nation of Judah.<br />
The Lord said: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you saw the bad<br />
so they can’t help you win.<br />
3 “If a man divorces his wife,<br />
and she leaves him<br />
and marries another man,<br />
can that man come back<br />
to his wife again?<br />
No! If that man went back to that woman,*<br />
then that land would become ‘dirty.’<br />
Judah, you acted like a prostitute<br />
with many lovers (false gods).<br />
And now you want to come back to me!”<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
2 “Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.<br />
Is there any place where you have not<br />
had sex with your lovers (false gods)?<br />
You have sat by the road waiting for lovers,<br />
like an Arab waiting in the desert.<br />
You made the land ‘dirty’!<br />
How? You did many bad things<br />
and you were unfaithful to me.<br />
3 You sinned, so the rain has not come.<br />
There have not been any springtime rains.<br />
But still you refuse to be ashamed.<br />
The look on your face is like the look<br />
that a prostitute has when she<br />
refuses to be ashamed.<br />
You refuse to be ashamed of what<br />
you did.<br />
4 But now you are calling me, ‘Father.’<br />
You said,<br />
‘You have been my friend<br />
since I was a child.’<br />
5 You also said,<br />
‘God will not always be angry at me.<br />
God’s anger will not continue forever.’<br />
things that Israel* did? You saw how she was<br />
unfaithful to me. She did the sin of adultery<br />
with idols on every hill and under every green<br />
tree.<br />
“Judah, you say those things,<br />
but you do as much evil as you can.”<br />
7I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back<br />
to me after she has finished doing these evil<br />
things.’ But she did not come back to me.<br />
And Israel’s unfaithful sister, Judah, saw what<br />
she did. 8Israel was unfaithful and Israel knew<br />
why I sent her away. Israel knew that I<br />
divorced her because she did the sin of<br />
adultery. But that did not make her unfaithful<br />
sister afraid. Judah, was not afraid. Judah also<br />
went out and acted like a prostitute. 9Judah<br />
did not care that she was acting like a<br />
prostitute. So she made her country ‘dirty.’<br />
She did the sin of adultery by worshiping<br />
idols made out of stone and wood. 10Israel’s<br />
unfaithful sister (Judah) did not come back to<br />
me with her whole heart. She only pretended<br />
that she came back to me.” This message was<br />
from the Lord.<br />
11The Lord said to me, “Israel was not<br />
faithful to me. But she had a better excuse<br />
than unfaithful Judah. 12<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, look<br />
toward the north and speak this message:<br />
‘Come back, you faithless people of Israel.’<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
‘I will stop frowning at you.<br />
I am full of mercy.’<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
‘I will not be angry with you forever.<br />
13 But you must recognize your sin.<br />
You turned against the Lord your God.<br />
That is your sin.<br />
You worshiped the idols of people<br />
from other nations.<br />
You worshiped those idols<br />
under every green tree.<br />
You did not obey me.’”<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
If that man went back to that woman It was against the law<br />
of Moses for a man to marry a woman he had divorced if that<br />
woman had become another man’s wife. It was against the<br />
law for that man to marry her again even if her second<br />
husband divorced her or died. See Deut. 24:1–4.<br />
Israel Here the name Israel means the northern kingdom of<br />
Israel. Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians about 100 years<br />
before <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s time.
JEREMIAH 3:14–4:3<br />
858<br />
14“You people are unfaithful. But Come<br />
back to me!” This message was from the Lord.<br />
“I am your Master. I will take one person<br />
from every city and two people from every<br />
family and bring you to Zion.* 15Then I will<br />
give you new rulers. Those rulers will be<br />
faithful to me. They will lead you with<br />
knowledge and understanding. 16In those<br />
days, there will be many of you in the land.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“At that time, people will never again say, ‘I<br />
remember the days when we had the Box of<br />
the Lord’s Agreement.’* They won’t even<br />
think about the Holy Box anymore. They<br />
won’t even remember or miss it. They will<br />
never make another Holy Box. 17At that time,<br />
the city of Jerusalem will be called the ‘Lord’s<br />
Throne.’ All nations will come together in the<br />
city of Jerusalem to give honor to the name of<br />
the Lord. They won’t follow their stubborn,<br />
evil hearts anymore. 18In those days, the<br />
family of Judah will join the family of Israel.<br />
They will come together from a land in the<br />
north. They will come to the land I gave to<br />
their ancestors.*<br />
22<br />
23<br />
24<br />
25<br />
{The Lord also said,}<br />
“People of Israel, you are unfaithful to me.<br />
But come back to me!<br />
Come back and I will forgive* you<br />
for being unfaithful to me.”<br />
{The people should say,}<br />
“Yes, we will come to you.<br />
You are the Lord our God.<br />
It was foolish to worship idols on the hills.<br />
All the loud parties on the mountains<br />
were wrong.<br />
Surely the salvation of Israel<br />
comes from the Lord our God.<br />
That terrible false god Baal has eaten<br />
everything our fathers owned.<br />
This has happened since we were children.<br />
That terrible false god took<br />
our fathers’ sheep and cattle,<br />
and their sons and daughters.<br />
Let us lie down in our shame.<br />
Let our shame cover us like a blanket.<br />
We have sinned against the Lord our God.<br />
We and our fathers have sinned.<br />
We have not obeyed the Lord our God<br />
19<br />
20<br />
21<br />
“I, the Lord, said to myself,<br />
‘I want to treat you like my own children.<br />
I want to give you a pleasant land,<br />
a land more beautiful<br />
than any other nation.’<br />
I thought that you would call me ‘Father.’<br />
I thought that you would always follow me.<br />
But you have been like a woman<br />
that is unfaithful to her husband.<br />
Family of Israel, you have been<br />
unfaithful to me!”<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
You can hear crying on the bare hills.<br />
The people of Israel are crying<br />
and praying for mercy.<br />
They became very evil.<br />
They forgot the Lord their God.<br />
from the time we were children.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
4 “Israel, if you want to come back,<br />
then come back to me.<br />
Throw away your idols.<br />
Don’t wander away from me.<br />
2 If you do those things,<br />
then you will be able to use my name<br />
to make a promise:<br />
You will be able to say,<br />
‘As the Lord lives.’<br />
And you will be able to use those words<br />
in a truthful, honest, and right way.<br />
If you do these things, then the nations<br />
will be blessed by the Lord.<br />
They will brag about the things<br />
that the Lord has done.”<br />
3This is what the Lord says to the man of<br />
Judah and to Jerusalem:<br />
“Your fields have not been plowed.<br />
Plow those fields!<br />
Don’t plant seeds among the thorns.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
Box of the Lord’s Agreement The box containing the stone<br />
tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them and the<br />
other things that proved God was with the people of Israel<br />
during their time in the Sinai Desert. Also called “The Ark of<br />
the Covenant.”<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. forgive Literally, “heal.”
4 Become the Lord’s people.<br />
Change your hearts!*<br />
Men of Judah and people of Jerusalem,<br />
if you don’t change,<br />
then I will become very angry.<br />
My anger will spread fast like a fire,<br />
and my anger will burn you up.<br />
And no person will be able to put out<br />
that fire.<br />
Why will this happen?<br />
Because of the evil things you<br />
have done.”<br />
Disaster from the North<br />
5“Give this message to the people of Judah:<br />
Tell every person in the city of Jerusalem,<br />
‘blow the trumpet all over the country.’<br />
Shout out loud and say,<br />
‘Come together!<br />
Let us all escape to the strong cities<br />
for protection.’<br />
6 Raise the signal flag toward Zion.*<br />
Run for your lives!<br />
Don’t wait!<br />
Do this because I am bringing disaster<br />
from the north.*<br />
I am bringing terrible destruction.”<br />
7 A lion has come out of his cave.<br />
A destroyer of nations has begun<br />
to march.<br />
He has left his home<br />
to destroy your land.<br />
Your towns will be destroyed.<br />
There will be no people left to live<br />
in them.<br />
8 So put on sackcloth* and cry out loud!<br />
Why? Because the Lord is angry at us.”<br />
Change your hearts Literally, “Be circumcised to the Lord.<br />
Cut away the foreskin of your hearts.” A man cut away the<br />
foreskin from his sex organ to show he was becoming one of<br />
God’s people. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> is saying that the real circumcision<br />
must be from inside a person’s heart (mind).<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
north The Babylonian army came from this direction to attack<br />
Judah. Armies from countries north and east of Israel often<br />
came this way to attack Judah and Israel.<br />
sackcloth A kind of cloth that people wore to show they were<br />
sad or crying for dead people.<br />
859 JEREMIAH 4:4–16<br />
9 The Lord says,<br />
“At the time this happens,<br />
the king and his officers<br />
will lose their courage,<br />
the priests will be scared,<br />
the prophets will be shocked.”<br />
10Then I, <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, said, “Lord my Master,<br />
you have really tricked the people of Judah<br />
and Jerusalem. You said to them, ‘You will<br />
have peace.’ But now the sword is pointing at<br />
their throats!”<br />
11 At that time a message will be given<br />
to the people of Judah and Jerusalem:<br />
“A hot wind blows from the bare hills.<br />
It comes from the desert to my people.<br />
It is not like the gentle wind that farmers use<br />
to separate the grain from the chaff.*<br />
12 It is a stronger wind than that,<br />
and it comes from me.<br />
Now, I will announce my judgment<br />
against the people of Judah.”<br />
13 Look! The enemy rises up like a cloud.<br />
His chariots* look like a wind storm.<br />
His horses are faster than eagles.<br />
It will be very bad for us!<br />
We are ruined!<br />
14 People of Jerusalem, wash the evil<br />
from your hearts.<br />
Make your hearts pure so you can be saved.<br />
Don’t continue making evil plans.<br />
15 Listen! The voice of a messenger<br />
from the land of Dan* is speaking.<br />
A person is bringing bad news<br />
from the hill country of Ephraim.*<br />
16 “Report it to this nation.*<br />
Spread the news to the people<br />
in Jerusalem.<br />
chaff The seed coverings and stems separated from the seeds of<br />
plants like wheat or barley. Farmers saved the seeds but let the<br />
wind blow the useless chaff away.<br />
chariot(s) A small wagon used in war.<br />
land of Dan The people from the family group of Dan lived<br />
near the border in the northern part of Israel. They would be<br />
the first to be attacked by an enemy from the north.<br />
hill country of Ephraim This was the central part of the land<br />
that had been the northern kingdom of Israel.<br />
“Report … nation The Hebrew is hard to understand here.
JEREMIAH 4:17–31<br />
Enemies are coming from a<br />
faraway country.<br />
Those enemies are shouting words of war<br />
against the cities of Judah.<br />
17 The enemy has surrounded Jerusalem<br />
like men guarding a field.<br />
Judah, you turned against me!<br />
So the enemy is coming against you!”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
18 “The way you lived and the things you did<br />
brought this trouble to you.<br />
It is your evil that made your life so hard.<br />
Your evil life brought the pain<br />
that hurts deep in your heart.”<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Cry<br />
19 Oh, my sadness and worry is making<br />
my stomach hurt.<br />
I am bent over in pain.<br />
Oh, I am so scared.<br />
My heart is pounding inside me.<br />
I can’t keep quiet. Why?<br />
Because I have heard the trumpet blow.<br />
The trumpet is calling the army to war!<br />
20 Disaster follows disaster!<br />
The whole country is destroyed!<br />
Suddenly my tents are destroyed!<br />
My curtains are torn down!<br />
21 Lord, how long must I see the war flags?<br />
How long must I hear the war trumpets?<br />
22 {God said,} “My people are foolish.<br />
They don’t know me.<br />
They are stupid children.<br />
They don’t understand.<br />
They are skillful at doing evil,<br />
but they don’t know how to do good.”<br />
Disaster Is Coming<br />
23 I looked at the earth.<br />
The earth was empty;<br />
nothing was on the earth.<br />
I looked at the sky.<br />
and its light was gone.*<br />
24 I looked at the mountains,<br />
and they were shaking.<br />
All of the hills were trembling.<br />
The earth … gone <strong>Jeremiah</strong> is comparing his country to the<br />
time before people were put on the earth. See Gen. 1:1.<br />
860<br />
25 I looked, but there were no people.<br />
All the birds of the sky had flown away.<br />
26 I looked, and the good land<br />
had become a desert.<br />
All the cities in that land were destroyed.<br />
The Lord caused this.<br />
The Lord and his great anger caused this.<br />
27 The Lord says these things:<br />
“The whole country will be ruined.<br />
(But I will not completely destroy the land.)<br />
28 So the people in the land will cry<br />
for the dead people.<br />
The sky will grow dark.<br />
I have spoken and will not change.<br />
I have made a decision<br />
and I will not change my mind.”<br />
29 The people of Judah will hear the sound<br />
of the horse soldiers and the archers,*<br />
and the people will run away!<br />
Some of the people will hide in caves,*<br />
some people will hide in the bushes,<br />
some people will climb up into the rocks.<br />
All of the cities of Judah will be empty.<br />
No person will live in them.<br />
30 Judah, you have been destroyed.<br />
So what are you doing now?<br />
Why are you putting on your best red dress?<br />
Why are you putting on your gold<br />
jewelry?<br />
Why are you putting on your eye makeup?<br />
You make yourself beautiful,<br />
but it is a waste of time.<br />
Your lovers hate you.<br />
They are trying to kill you.<br />
31 I hear a cry like a woman having a baby.<br />
It is a scream like a woman<br />
that is having her first baby.<br />
It is the cry of the Daughter of Zion.*<br />
She is lifting her hands in prayer, saying,<br />
“Oh! I am about to faint!<br />
Murderers are all around me!”<br />
archers Soldiers that use bows and arrows in war.<br />
hide in caves This line is from the ancient Greek translation.<br />
The Hebrew text does not have this line.<br />
Daughter of Zion A name for the city of Jerusalem.
861 JEREMIAH 5:1–14<br />
The Evil of the People of Judah<br />
5The Lord says,} “Walk the streets of<br />
Jerusalem. Look around and think about<br />
these things. Search the public squares of the<br />
city. See if you can find one good person, one<br />
person that does honest things, one that<br />
searches for the truth. If you find one good<br />
person, I will forgive Jerusalem! 2The people<br />
8<br />
Your children have abandoned me.<br />
They made promises to idols<br />
And those idols are not really gods!<br />
I gave your children everything they needed.<br />
But they still were unfaithful to me!<br />
They spent much time with prostitutes.<br />
They are like horses<br />
that have had plenty to eat<br />
make promises and say, ‘As the Lord lives.’ and are ready to mate.<br />
But they don’t really mean it.”<br />
They are like a horse that is<br />
3 Lord, I know that you want people<br />
to be loyal to you.<br />
You hit the people of Judah,<br />
but they did not feel any pain.<br />
You destroyed them,<br />
but they refused to learn their lesson.<br />
They became very stubborn.<br />
They refused to be sorry<br />
9<br />
calling its neighbor’s wife.<br />
Should I punish the people of Judah<br />
for doing these things?”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“Yes! You know I should punish a nation<br />
that lives like that.<br />
I will give them the punishment<br />
that they deserve.<br />
for the bad things they did.<br />
10 “Go along the rows of Judah’s grapevines.<br />
4<br />
5<br />
But I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) said to myself,<br />
“It must be only the poor people<br />
that are so foolish.<br />
Poor people have not learned<br />
the way of the Lord.<br />
Poor people don’t know<br />
the teachings of their God.<br />
So I will go to the leaders of Judah.<br />
11<br />
Cut down the vines.<br />
(But don’t completely destroy them.)<br />
Cut off all their branches.<br />
Why? Because they don’t belong<br />
to the Lord.<br />
The family of Israel and the family of Judah<br />
have been unfaithful to me in every way.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
6<br />
I will talk to them.<br />
Surely the leaders know the way<br />
of the Lord.<br />
Iamsure they know the law<br />
of their God.”<br />
But the leaders had all joined together<br />
to break away from serving the Lord.<br />
They turned against God,<br />
so a lion from the forest will attack them.<br />
A wolf from the desert will kill them.<br />
A leopard is hiding near their cities.<br />
The leopard will tear to pieces<br />
any person that comes out of the city.<br />
This will happen because the people<br />
of Judah have sinned again and again.<br />
They have wandered away from the Lord<br />
many times.<br />
12<br />
13<br />
14<br />
“Those people have lied about the Lord.<br />
They have said,<br />
‘The Lord will not do anything to us.<br />
Nothing bad will happen to us.<br />
We will never see an army attack us.<br />
We will never starve.’<br />
“The {false} prophets are only empty wind.*<br />
The word of God is not in them.*<br />
Bad things will happen to them.”<br />
The Lord God All-Powerful said<br />
these things:<br />
“Those people said I would not punish them.<br />
So <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, the words I give you<br />
will be like fire.<br />
And those people will be like wood.<br />
That fire will burn them up completely!<br />
7 {God said,}<br />
“Judah, give me one good reason<br />
why I should forgive you.<br />
wind This is a word play. The Hebrew word for wind is like the<br />
word for Spirit.<br />
The word … them Literally, “and the ‘He said’ is not in them.”
JEREMIAH 5:15–29<br />
15 Family of Israel, this message<br />
is from the Lord,<br />
“I will soon bring a nation from far away<br />
to attack you.<br />
It is an old nation.<br />
It is an ancient nation.<br />
The people of that nation speak a language<br />
that you don’t know.<br />
You can’t understand what they say.<br />
16 Their arrow bags are like open graves.<br />
All of their men are strong soldiers.<br />
17 Those soldiers will eat all the crops<br />
that you gathered.<br />
They will eat all of your food.<br />
They will eat (destroy) your sons<br />
and daughters.<br />
They will eat your flocks and your herds.<br />
They will eat your grapes and your figs.<br />
They will destroy your strong cities<br />
with their swords.<br />
They will destroy the strong cities<br />
that you trust in!<br />
18 This message is from the Lord,<br />
“But Judah, when those terrible days come,<br />
I will not fully destroy you.<br />
19 The people of Judah will ask you,<br />
‘<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, why has the Lord our God<br />
done this bad thing to us?’<br />
Give them this answer:<br />
‘You people of Judah have left the Lord,<br />
and you have served foreign idols<br />
in your own land.<br />
You did those things, so now<br />
you will serve foreigners in a land<br />
that doesn’t belong to you.’”<br />
20 {The Lord said,}<br />
“Tell this message to the family of Jacob.<br />
Tell this message in the nation of Judah:<br />
21 Hear this message.<br />
You foolish people have no sense:<br />
‘You have eyes, but you don’t see!<br />
You have ears, but you don’t listen!’<br />
22 Surely you are afraid of me.’”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“You should shake with fear<br />
in front of me.<br />
I am the One who made the beaches<br />
to be a boundary for the sea.<br />
862<br />
I made it that way to keep the water<br />
in its place forever.<br />
The waves may pound the beach,<br />
but they will not destroy it.<br />
The waves may roar as they come in,<br />
but they can’t go beyond the beach.<br />
23 But the people of Judah are stubborn.<br />
They are always planning ways<br />
to turn against me.<br />
They turned away from me<br />
and left me.<br />
24 The people of Judah never say<br />
to themselves,<br />
‘Let’s fear and respect the Lord our God.<br />
He gives us autumn and spring rains<br />
at just the right time.<br />
He makes sure that we have the harvest<br />
at just the right time.’<br />
25 People of Judah, you have done wrong.<br />
So the rains and the harvest<br />
have not come.<br />
Your sins have kept you from enjoying<br />
those good things from the Lord.<br />
26 There are evil men among my people.<br />
Those evil men are like men<br />
that make nets for catching birds.*<br />
These men set their traps,<br />
But they catch men instead of birds.<br />
27 The houses of these evil men are full of lies,<br />
like a cage full of birds.<br />
Their lies made them rich and powerful.<br />
28 They have grown big and fat<br />
{from the evil things they have done}.<br />
There is no end to the evil things they do.<br />
They will not plead the case<br />
of children that have no parents.<br />
They will not help those orphans.<br />
They will not let poor people<br />
be judged fairly.<br />
29 Should I punish the people of Judah<br />
for doing these things?”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“You know that I should punish a nation<br />
such as this.<br />
I should give them the punishment<br />
that they deserve.”<br />
men … birds The Hebrew is hard to understand here.
6<br />
30 {The Lord says,}<br />
“A terrible and shocking thing<br />
has happened in the land of Judah.<br />
31 The prophets tell lies.<br />
The priests will not do<br />
what they were chosen to do.*<br />
And my people love it this way!<br />
But what will you people do<br />
when your punishment comes?”<br />
The Enemy Surrounds Jerusalem<br />
Run for your lives, people of Benjamin!<br />
Run away from the city of Jerusalem!<br />
Blow the war trumpet in the city of Tekoa!<br />
Put up the warning flag<br />
in the city of Beth Hakkerem!<br />
Do these things because disaster is<br />
coming from the north.*<br />
Terrible destruction is coming to you.<br />
2 Daughter of Zion,* you are like<br />
a beautiful meadow.*<br />
3 Shepherds come to Jerusalem,<br />
and they bring their flocks.<br />
They set up their tents all around her.<br />
Each shepherd takes care<br />
of his own flock.<br />
4 “Get ready to fight against Jerusalem.<br />
Get up! We will attack the city at noon.<br />
But it is already getting late.<br />
The evening shadows are growing long.<br />
5 So get up! We will attack the city at night!<br />
Let’s destroy the strong walls<br />
that are around Jerusalem.”<br />
6 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“Cut down the trees around Jerusalem.<br />
And build a siege mound* against it.<br />
This city should be punished.<br />
Inside this city is nothing but oppression.<br />
priests … were chosen to do The Hebrew is hard to understand<br />
here.<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.<br />
Daughter of Zion A name for the city of Jerusalem.<br />
you are like a beautiful meadow The Hebrew is hard to<br />
understand here.<br />
siege mound A large pile of dirt and rock that an army put<br />
against the wall of a city they were attacking. This made it<br />
easier for the enemy soldiers to climb over the wall into<br />
the city.<br />
863 JEREMIAH 5:30–6:13<br />
7<br />
8<br />
A well keeps its water fresh.<br />
In the same way,<br />
Jerusalem keeps its wickedness fresh.<br />
I hear about the looting and violence<br />
in this city all the time.<br />
I see the pain and sickness in Jerusalem<br />
all the time.<br />
Listen to this warning, Jerusalem.<br />
If you don’t listen<br />
then I will turn my back on you.<br />
I will make your land an empty desert.<br />
No person will be able to live there.”<br />
9 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“Gather* the people of Israel<br />
that were left on their land.<br />
Gather them the way you would gather<br />
the last grapes on a grapevine.<br />
Check each vine, like a worker checks<br />
each vine when he picks the grapes.”<br />
10 Who can I speak to?<br />
Who can I warn?<br />
Who will listen to me?<br />
The people of Israel have closed their ears,<br />
so they can’t hear my warnings.<br />
The people don’t like the Lord’s teachings.<br />
They don’t want to hear his message.<br />
11 But I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) am full of the Lord’s anger!<br />
I am tired of holding it in!<br />
“Pour out the Lord’s anger on the children<br />
that play in the street.<br />
Pour out the Lord’s anger on the young men<br />
that gather together.<br />
A man and his wife will both be captured.<br />
All the old people will be captured.<br />
12 Their houses will be given to other people.<br />
Their fields and their wives<br />
will be given to other people.<br />
I will raise my hand and punish<br />
the people of Judah.”<br />
This message was from the Lord.<br />
13 “All the people of Israel want<br />
more and more money.<br />
All the people, from the least important<br />
to the most important people,<br />
are like that.<br />
Gather Or “Glean.” Farmers were supposed to leave a little of<br />
their grain and other crops in the field. In this way, poor<br />
people and travelers could always find something to eat.<br />
Gathering this leftover grain is called gleaning.
JEREMIAH 6:14–26<br />
All the people,<br />
from prophets to priests<br />
tell lies.<br />
14 My people have been hurt very badly.<br />
The prophets and priests<br />
should bandage those wounds.<br />
But they treat those wounds<br />
like they are only a small scratch.<br />
They say,<br />
‘It is all right, everything is fine!’<br />
But it is not all right!<br />
15 The priests and prophets should<br />
be ashamed<br />
of the bad things they do.<br />
But they are not ashamed at all.<br />
They don’t know enough<br />
to be embarrassed of their sins.<br />
So they will be punished with everyone else.<br />
They will be thrown to the ground<br />
when I punish the people.”<br />
The Lord said those things.<br />
16 The Lord says these things:<br />
“Stand at the crossroads and look.<br />
Ask where the old road is.<br />
Ask where the good road is,<br />
and walk on that road.<br />
If you do, you will find rest for yourselves.<br />
But you people have said,<br />
‘We will not walk on the good road!’<br />
17 I chose watchmen to watch over you.<br />
I told them,<br />
‘Listen for the sound of the<br />
war trumpet.’<br />
But they said,<br />
‘We will not listen!’<br />
18 So, listen, all you nations!<br />
Pay attention, you people in those<br />
countries!*<br />
19 Hear this, people of the earth.<br />
I am going to bring disaster<br />
to the people of Judah.<br />
Why? Because of all the bad things<br />
that those people planned.<br />
And because they ignored my messages.<br />
Those people refused to obey my law.”<br />
Pay … countries The Hebrew is hard to understand here.<br />
864<br />
20 {The Lord says,}<br />
“Why do you bring me incense*<br />
from the country of Sheba?*<br />
Why do you bring me sweet-smelling<br />
cane from a far away country?<br />
Your burnt offerings don’t make<br />
me happy.<br />
Your sacrifices don’t please me.”<br />
21 So, this is what the Lord says:<br />
“I will give the people of Judah problems.<br />
They will be like stones<br />
that make people fall.<br />
Fathers and sons will stumble over them.<br />
Friends and neighbors will die.”<br />
22 This is what the Lord says:<br />
“An army is coming from the north.*<br />
A great nation is coming from<br />
faraway places on earth.<br />
23 The soldiers carry bows and spears.<br />
They are cruel.<br />
They have no mercy.<br />
They are so powerful.<br />
They sound like the roaring ocean<br />
as they ride their horses.<br />
That army is coming ready for battle.<br />
That army is coming to attack you,<br />
Daughter of Zion.”*<br />
24 We have heard the news about that army.<br />
We are helpless from fear.<br />
We feel trapped by our troubles.<br />
We are like a woman that is having<br />
a baby.<br />
25 Don’t go out into the fields.<br />
Don’t go on the roads.<br />
Why? Because the enemy has swords<br />
and there is danger everywhere.<br />
26 My people, put on sackcloth*,<br />
and roll in the ashes.*<br />
incense Special dried tree sap. Burned to make a sweetsmelling<br />
smoke, it was offered as a gift to God.<br />
Sheba A land south of Israel, located where part of Saudi<br />
Arabia is today. Sheba controlled the spice trade in the time of<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.<br />
Daughter of Zion A name for the city of Jerusalem.<br />
sackcloth A kind of cloth that people wore to show they were<br />
sad or crying for dead people.<br />
roll in the ashes This is one way people showed that they were<br />
sad or crying for a dead person.
Cry loud for the dead people.<br />
Cry like you lost an only son.<br />
Do these things because the destroyer<br />
will come against us very quickly.<br />
27 “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, I (the Lord) made you<br />
like a worker that tests metals.<br />
You will test my people<br />
and watch how they live.<br />
28 My people have turned against me,<br />
and they are very stubborn.<br />
They say bad things about people.<br />
They are like bronze and iron,<br />
that are covered with rust and tarnish.<br />
29 {They are like a worker<br />
that tried to make silver pure.}<br />
The bellows* blew strongly<br />
{and the fire became hotter}.<br />
But only lead came from the fire!*<br />
The worker wasted his time<br />
trying to make that silver pure.<br />
In the same way, the evil was not removed<br />
{from my people}.<br />
30 My people will be called, ‘Rejected Silver.’<br />
They will be given that name<br />
because the Lord did not accept them.”<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Temple Sermon<br />
7This is the Lord’s message to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>:<br />
2<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, stand at the gate of the Lord’s<br />
house. Preach this message at the gate:<br />
“Hear the message from the Lord, all you<br />
people of the nation of Judah. All you people<br />
that come through these gates to worship the<br />
Lord, hear this message. 3The Lord is the<br />
God of the people of Israel. This is what the<br />
Lord All-Powerful says: ‘Change your lives<br />
and do good things. If you do this, I will let<br />
you live in this place.* 4Don’t trust the lies<br />
that some people say. They say, “This is the<br />
temple* of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,<br />
bellows A tool for blowing air on a fire to make the fire hotter.<br />
lead came from the fire Workers melted metals like silver to<br />
make the metals pure. Lead was the first metal to melt, so the<br />
workers poured the lead out, leaving the other metal pure.<br />
Here <strong>Jeremiah</strong> is saying the people are all bad—they are all<br />
lead and no silver!<br />
I will … place This can also mean, “I will live with you.”<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
865 JEREMIAH 6:27–7:14<br />
the temple of the Lord*!” 5If you change<br />
your lives and do good things, I will let you<br />
live in this place. You must be fair to each<br />
other. 6You must be fair to strangers. You<br />
must do the right things for widows and<br />
orphans.* Don’t kill innocent people! Don’t<br />
follow other gods! Why? Because they will<br />
ruin your lives. 7If you obey me, I will let<br />
you live in this place. I gave this land to your<br />
ancestors* for them to keep forever.<br />
8“‘But you are trusting lies. And those lies<br />
are worthless. 9Will you steal and murder?<br />
Will you do the sin of adultery*? Will you<br />
falsely accuse other people? Will you worship<br />
the false god Baal* and follow other gods that<br />
you have not known? 10If you do those sins,<br />
do you think that you can stand before me in<br />
this house that is called by my name? Do you<br />
think you can stand before me and say, “We<br />
are safe,” just so you can do all these terrible<br />
things? 11This temple* is called by my name!<br />
Is this temple nothing more to you than a<br />
hideout for robbers? I have been watching<br />
you.’” This message is from the Lord.<br />
12“You people of Judah, go now to the<br />
town of Shiloh. Go to the place where I first<br />
made a house for my name. The people of<br />
Israel also did evil things. Go and see what I<br />
did to that place because of the evil things<br />
they did.* 13You people of Israel were doing<br />
all these evil things”—This message is from<br />
the Lord!—“I spoke to you again and again,<br />
but you refused to listen to me. I called to<br />
you, but you did not answer. 14So I will<br />
destroy the house called by my name in<br />
Jerusalem. I will destroy that temple* like I<br />
This is … Lord Many people in Jerusalem thought that the<br />
Lord would always protect Jerusalem because his temple was<br />
there. They thought God would protect Jerusalem, no matter<br />
how evil the people where.<br />
widows and orphans Widows are women whose husbands<br />
have died, and orphans are children whose parents have died.<br />
Often these people have no one to care for them.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
adultery Breaking the marriage promise by sexual sin.<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
Go … they did Shiloh was probably destroyed by the<br />
Philistines in the time of Eli and Samuel. See 1 Sam. 4.
JEREMIAH 7:15–32<br />
866<br />
destroyed Shiloh. And that house in Jerusalem<br />
that is called by my name is the temple that<br />
you trust in. I gave that place to you and to<br />
your ancestors. 15I will throw you away from<br />
me just like I threw away all your brothers<br />
from Ephraim.*<br />
16“As for you, <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, don’t pray for<br />
these people of Judah. Don’t beg for them or<br />
pray for them. Don’t beg for me to help them.<br />
I will not listen to your prayer for them. 17I<br />
know you see what those people are doing in<br />
the towns of Judah. You can see what they are<br />
doing in the streets of the city of Jerusalem.<br />
18This is what the people of Judah are doing:<br />
The children gather wood. The fathers use the<br />
wood to make a fire. The women make the<br />
dough and make cakes of bread to offer to the<br />
Queen of Heaven.* Those people of Judah<br />
pour out drink offerings to worship other<br />
gods. They do this to make me angry. 19But I<br />
am not the one the people of Judah are really<br />
hurting.” This message is from the Lord.<br />
“They are only hurting themselves. They are<br />
bringing shame on themselves.”<br />
20So the Lord says this: “I will show my<br />
anger against this place. I will punish people<br />
and animals. I will punish the trees in the field<br />
and the crops that grow in the ground. My<br />
anger will be like a hot fire—and no person<br />
will be able to stop it.”<br />
The Lord Wants Obedience More<br />
than Sacrifice<br />
21The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel,<br />
says these things: “Go and offer as many burnt<br />
offerings and sacrifices as you want. Eat the<br />
meat of those sacrifices yourselves. 22I brought<br />
your ancestors* out of Egypt. I spoke to them,<br />
but I did not give them any commands about<br />
burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23I<br />
God, and you will be my people. Do all that I<br />
command, and good things will happen to you.<br />
24“But your ancestors* did not listen to me.<br />
They did not pay attention to me. They were<br />
stubborn and did the things they wanted to do.<br />
They did not become good. They became<br />
even more evil—they went backward, not<br />
forward.<br />
only gave them<br />
this command: ‘Obey me and I will be your<br />
25From the day that your ancestors<br />
left Egypt to this day, I have sent my servants<br />
to you. My servants are the prophets. I sent<br />
them to you again and again. 26But your<br />
ancestors did not listen to me. They did not<br />
pay attention to me. They were very stubborn<br />
and did evil worse than their fathers.<br />
27“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you will tell these things to the<br />
people of Judah. But they won’t listen to you!<br />
You call to them, but they won’t answer you.<br />
28So you must tell them these things: This is<br />
the nation that did not obey the Lord its God.<br />
These people did not listen to God’s teachings.<br />
These people don’t know the true teachings.<br />
The Valley of Slaughter<br />
29“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, cut off your hair and throw it<br />
away.* Go up to the bare hilltop and cry.<br />
Why? Because the Lord has rejected this<br />
generation of people. The Lord has turned his<br />
back on these people. And in anger, he will<br />
punish them. 30Do this because I have seen<br />
the people of Judah doing evil things.” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “They have set up<br />
their idols. And I hate those idols! They have<br />
set up idols in the temple that is called by my<br />
name. They have made my house ‘dirty’!<br />
31The people of Judah have built the high<br />
places* of Topheth in the Valley of Ben<br />
Hinnom. In those places the people killed<br />
their own sons and daughters—they burned<br />
them as sacrifices. This is something I never<br />
commanded. Something like this never even<br />
entered my mind! 32So, I warn you. The days<br />
are coming,” this message is from the Lord,<br />
“when people won’t call this place Topheth or<br />
the Valley of Ben Hinnom anymore. No, they<br />
Ephraim This is the northern kingdom of Israel.<br />
Queen of Heaven Probably the false god Astarte. She was the<br />
goddess of sex and war. People in Mesopotamia worshiped<br />
her. They thought she was the planet Venus, which looks like<br />
a star in the sky.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
cut … away This showed <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was sad.<br />
high places Special places where the people worshiped false<br />
gods. These places were often on hilltops, but not always.<br />
Some high places were in valleys.
will call it the Valley of Slaughter.* They will<br />
give it this name because they will bury the<br />
dead people in Topheth until there is no more<br />
room to bury anyone else. 33Then the bodies<br />
of the dead people will {lie on top of the<br />
ground and} become food for the birds of the<br />
sky. Wild animals will eat the bodies of those<br />
people. There will be no person left alive to<br />
chase the birds or animals away. 34I will bring<br />
an end to the sounds of joy and happiness in<br />
the towns of Judah and in the streets of<br />
Jerusalem. There will be no more sounds of<br />
the bride and bridegroom in Judah or<br />
Jerusalem. The land will become an empty<br />
desert.”<br />
8This message is from the Lord: “At that<br />
time, men will take the bones of the kings<br />
and important rulers of Judah from their<br />
tombs.* They will take the bones of the<br />
priests and prophets from their tombs. They<br />
will take the bones of all the people of<br />
Jerusalem from their tombs. 2Those men will<br />
spread those bones on the ground under the<br />
sun, the moon, and the stars. The people of<br />
Jerusalem love to worship the sun, the moon,<br />
and the stars. No person will gather those<br />
bones and bury them again. So, the bones of<br />
those people will be like dung thrown on the<br />
ground.<br />
3“I will force the people of Judah to leave<br />
their homes and their land. The people will be<br />
taken away to foreign lands. Some of the<br />
people of Judah that were not killed in the war<br />
will wish that they had been killed.” This<br />
message is from the Lord.<br />
Sin and Punishment<br />
4 <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, say this to the people of Judah:<br />
The Lord says these things:<br />
“You know if a man falls down,<br />
he gets up again.<br />
And if a man goes the wrong way,<br />
he turns around and comes back.<br />
Slaughter Usually, this word means to kill an animal and cut it<br />
into pieces of meat. But it often means to kill people like they<br />
are animals.<br />
tomb(s) A grave dug in a wall of rock.<br />
867 JEREMIAH 7:33–8:10<br />
5 The people of Judah went (lived)<br />
the wrong way.<br />
But why do those people of Jerusalem<br />
continue going the wrong way?<br />
They believe their own lies.<br />
They refuse to turn around and<br />
come back.<br />
6 I have listened to them very carefully.<br />
But they don’t say what is right.<br />
The people are not sorry for their sins.<br />
The people don’t think about the bad<br />
things they have done.<br />
The people do things without thinking.<br />
They are like horses running into a battle.<br />
7 Even the birds in the sky<br />
know the right time to do things.<br />
The storks, doves, swifts, and thrushes<br />
know when it is time to fly to a<br />
new home.<br />
But my people don’t know what the Lord<br />
wants them to do.<br />
8 “You keep saying,<br />
‘We have the Lord’s teachings!<br />
So we are wise!’<br />
But that is not true.<br />
Why? Because the scribes*<br />
have lied with their pens.<br />
9 Those ‘wise people’ refused to listen<br />
to the Lord’s teachings.<br />
So they are not really wise people at all.<br />
Those ‘wise people’ were trapped.<br />
They became shocked and ashamed.<br />
10 So I will give their wives to other men.<br />
I will give their fields to new owners.<br />
All the people of Israel want<br />
more and more money.<br />
All the people,<br />
from the least important<br />
to most important people,<br />
are like that.<br />
All the people,<br />
from prophets to priests,<br />
tell lies.<br />
scribes Men that wrote down and copied different writings.<br />
Some of those writings included the books that later became<br />
the Old Testament. Those men spent so much time with those<br />
writings, that they often became experts at knowing what<br />
those scriptures (writings) meant.
JEREMIAH 8:11–9:3<br />
11 My people have been hurt very badly.<br />
The prophets and priests<br />
should bandage those wounds.<br />
But they treat those wounds<br />
like they are only a small scratch.<br />
They say,<br />
‘It is all right, everything is fine!’<br />
But it is not all right!<br />
12 They should be ashamed<br />
of the bad things they do.<br />
But they are not ashamed at all.<br />
They don’t know enough<br />
to be embarrassed of their sins.<br />
So they will be punished with everyone else.<br />
They will be thrown to the ground<br />
when I punish the people.”<br />
The Lord said those things.<br />
13 “I will take away their fruit and crops,<br />
so that there will be no harvest.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“There will not be any grapes on the vine.<br />
There will not be any figs on the fig tree.<br />
Even the leaves will become dry and die.<br />
I will take away the things I gave them.*<br />
14 “Why are we just sitting here?<br />
Come, let’s run to the strong cities.<br />
If the Lord our God is going to make us die,<br />
then let’s die there.<br />
We have sinned against the Lord,<br />
so God gave us poisoned water to drink.<br />
15 We hoped to have peace,<br />
but nothing good has come.<br />
We hoped that he would forgive us,<br />
but only disaster has come.<br />
16 From the land of the family group of Dan,<br />
we hear the snorting*<br />
of the enemy’s horses.<br />
The ground shakes from the pounding<br />
of their hooves.*<br />
They have come to destroy the land<br />
and everything in it.<br />
They have come to destroy the city<br />
and all the people that live there.<br />
I will take away … gave them The Hebrew of this line is hard<br />
to understand.<br />
snorting The sound that comes from breathing very hard<br />
through the nose.<br />
hooves The hard part of the feet of certain animals.<br />
868<br />
17 “People of Judah,<br />
I am sending poisonous snakes*<br />
to attack you.<br />
Those snakes can’t be controlled.<br />
Those snakes will bite you.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
18 God, I am very sad and afraid.<br />
19 Listen to my people.<br />
Everywhere in this country<br />
people are crying for help.<br />
They say,<br />
“Is the Lord still at Zion*?<br />
Is Zion’s King still there?”<br />
{But God says,}<br />
“The people of Judah worshiped<br />
their worthless foreign idols.<br />
That made me very angry!<br />
Why did they do that?<br />
20 {And the people say,}<br />
“Harvest time is over. Summer is gone.<br />
And still we have not been saved.”<br />
9<br />
21 My people are hurt,<br />
so I am hurt.<br />
I am too sad to speak.<br />
22 Surely there is some medicine in Gilead.<br />
Surely there is a doctor in Gilead.<br />
So why are the hurts of my people<br />
not healed?<br />
If my head was filled with water,<br />
and if my eyes were a fountain of tears,<br />
I would cry day and night<br />
for my people that have been destroyed.<br />
2 If only I had a place in the desert,<br />
a house where travelers spend the night,<br />
I could leave my people.<br />
I could go away from those people.<br />
Why? Because they are all unfaithful<br />
to God.<br />
They have all turned against him.<br />
3 “Those people use their tongues like a bow;<br />
lies fly from their mouths like arrows.<br />
poisonous snakes This probably means one of Judah’s enemies.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.
Lies, not truth, have grown strong<br />
in this land.<br />
Those people go from one sin to another.<br />
They don’t know me.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
4 “Watch your neighbors!<br />
Don’t trust your own brothers!<br />
Why? Because every brother is a cheat.<br />
Every neighbor talks behind your back.<br />
5 Every person lies to his neighbor.<br />
No person speaks the truth.<br />
The people of Judah have taught<br />
their tongues to lie.<br />
They sinned until they were too tired<br />
to come back.<br />
6 One bad thing followed another.<br />
And lies followed lies.<br />
The people refused to know me.”<br />
The Lord said those things.<br />
7 So, the Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“A worker heats metal in a fire<br />
to test if it is pure.<br />
I will test the people of Judah like that.<br />
I have no other choice.<br />
My people have sinned.<br />
8 The people of Judah have tongues<br />
that are like sharp arrows.<br />
Their mouths speak lies.<br />
Each person speaks nice to his neighbor.<br />
But he is secretly planning ways<br />
to attack his neighbor.<br />
9 I should punish the people of Judah.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“You know that I should punish<br />
that kind of people.<br />
I should give them the punishment<br />
that they deserve.”<br />
10 I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) will cry loud for the mountains.<br />
I will sing a funeral song<br />
for the empty fields.<br />
Why? Because the living things<br />
were taken away.<br />
No person travels there now.<br />
The sounds of cattle can’t be heard there.<br />
The birds have flown away<br />
and the animals are gone.<br />
11 “I (the Lord) will make the city of Jerusalem<br />
a pile of garbage.<br />
869 JEREMIAH 9:4–17<br />
It will be a home for jackals.*<br />
I will destroy the cities in the land of Judah,<br />
so no one will live there.”<br />
12 Is there a man that is wise enough to<br />
understand these things?<br />
Is there some person that has been<br />
taught by the Lord?<br />
Can anyone explain the Lord’s message?<br />
Why was the land ruined?<br />
Why was it made like an empty desert<br />
where no people go?<br />
13 The Lord answered these questions. He said,<br />
“It is because the people of Judah quit<br />
following my teachings.<br />
I gave them my teachings,<br />
but they refused to listen to me.<br />
They did not follow my teachings.<br />
14 The people of Judah lived their own way.<br />
They were stubborn.<br />
They followed the false god Baal.*<br />
Their fathers taught them to follow<br />
those false gods.”<br />
15 So the Lord All-Powerful,<br />
the God of Israel, says,<br />
“I will soon make the people of Judah<br />
eat bitter food.<br />
I will make them drink poisoned water.<br />
16 I will scatter the people of Judah<br />
through other nations.<br />
They will live in strange nations.<br />
They and their fathers never knew<br />
about those countries.<br />
I will send men with swords.<br />
Those men will kill the people of Judah.<br />
They will kill them until the people<br />
are finished.”<br />
17 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“Now, think about these things!<br />
Call for the women that get paid<br />
to cry at funerals.<br />
Send for the people that are good<br />
at that job.<br />
jackals A wild animal, like a dog. Those animals only live<br />
where there are no people.<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.
JEREMIAH 9:18–10:5<br />
18 {The people say,}<br />
‘Let those women come quickly<br />
and cry for us.<br />
Then our eyes will fill with tears,<br />
and streams of water will come<br />
out of our eyes.’<br />
19 “The sound of loud crying<br />
is heard from Zion*:<br />
‘We are truly ruined!<br />
We are truly ashamed!<br />
We must leave our land,<br />
because our houses have been<br />
destroyed.<br />
Now our houses are only piles of rock.’”<br />
20 Now, women of Judah,<br />
listen to the message from the Lord.<br />
Listen to the words from the Lord’s mouth.<br />
{The Lord says,}<br />
“Teach your daughters how to cry loud.<br />
Each woman must learn to sing<br />
this funeral song:<br />
21 ‘Death has come.<br />
Death climbed in through our windows.<br />
Death came into our palaces.*<br />
Death has come to our children<br />
that play in the streets.<br />
Death has come to the young men<br />
that meet in the public places.’<br />
22 “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, say these things:<br />
‘The Lord says,<br />
Dead bodies will lie in the fields<br />
like dung.<br />
Their bodies will lie on the ground<br />
like grain a farmer has cut.<br />
But there will be no one to gather them.’”<br />
23 The Lord says:<br />
“Wise men must not brag<br />
about their wisdom.<br />
Strong men must not brag<br />
about their strength.<br />
Rich men must not brag<br />
about their money.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
palace(s) A large house for the king and his family.<br />
870<br />
24 But if someone wants to brag,<br />
then let him brag about these things:<br />
Let him brag that he learned to know me.<br />
Let him brag that he understands<br />
that I am the Lord<br />
that I am kind and fair and<br />
that I do good things on earth.<br />
I love those things.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
25This message is from the Lord. “The time<br />
is coming when I will punish all the people<br />
that are circumcised* only in the body. 26I am<br />
talking about the people of the nations of<br />
Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab, and all<br />
the people that live in the desert. The men in<br />
all those countries really were not circumcised<br />
in their bodies. But the people from the family<br />
of Israel were not circumcised in their hearts.”<br />
10<br />
The Lord and the Idols<br />
Family of Israel, listen to the Lord!<br />
2This is what the Lord says:<br />
“Don’t live like people from other nations.<br />
Don’t be afraid of special signs<br />
in the sky.*<br />
The other nations are afraid of the things<br />
that they see in the sky.<br />
But you must not be afraid of those things.<br />
3 The customs of other people<br />
are worth nothing.<br />
Their idols are nothing but wood<br />
from the forest.<br />
Their idols are made by a worker<br />
with his chisel.<br />
4 They make their idols beautiful<br />
with silver and gold.<br />
They use hammers and nails<br />
to fasten their idols down,<br />
so they will not fall over.<br />
5 The idols of the other nations are like<br />
a scarecrow in a cucumber field.<br />
circumcised To have the foreskin cut off. This was done to<br />
every Jewish male to show he shared in the Agreement God<br />
made with Israel. See Gen. 17:9–14.<br />
special signs in the sky People believed that such things as<br />
comets, meteors, or eclipses of the sun and moon could be<br />
used to learn what was going to happen in the future.
Those idols can’t walk.<br />
They can’t talk.<br />
And the people must carry them.<br />
So don’t be afraid of those idols.<br />
They can’t hurt you.<br />
And they can’t help you either!”<br />
6 Lord, there is no one like you!<br />
You are great!<br />
Your name is great and powerful!<br />
7 Every person should respect you, God.<br />
You are the King of all the nations.<br />
You deserve their respect.<br />
There are many wise men among<br />
the nations.<br />
But none of those people are as wise<br />
as you.<br />
8 All the people of the other nations are<br />
stupid and foolish.<br />
Their teachings come from worthless<br />
wooden statues.<br />
9 They use silver from the city of Tarshish<br />
and gold from the city of Uphaz<br />
and make their statues.<br />
Carpenters and metal-workers make<br />
those idols.<br />
They put blue and purple clothes on<br />
those idols.<br />
“Wise men” make those “gods.”<br />
10 But the Lord is the only true God.<br />
He is the only God who is truly alive.<br />
He is the King that rules forever.<br />
The earth shakes when God is angry.<br />
The people of the nations can’t stop<br />
his anger.<br />
11 {The Lord says,}<br />
“Tell this message to those people:<br />
‘Those false gods did not make<br />
heaven and earth.<br />
And those false gods will be destroyed<br />
and disappear from heaven<br />
and earth.’”*<br />
Tell this message … earth This part was written in Aramaic,<br />
not Hebrew. This was the language people used often when<br />
writing to people in other countries. It was also the language<br />
spoken in Babylon.<br />
871 JEREMIAH 10:6–18<br />
12 God is the One who used his power<br />
and made the earth.<br />
God used his wisdom and built the world.<br />
With his understanding,<br />
God stretched out the sky {over the earth}.<br />
13 God causes the loud thunder,<br />
and he causes great floods of water to<br />
fall from the sky.<br />
He makes clouds rise in the sky every<br />
place on earth.<br />
He sends lightning with the rain.<br />
He brings out the wind from his<br />
storehouses.<br />
14 People are so stupid!<br />
Metal workers are fooled by the idols<br />
that they themselves made.<br />
Those statues are nothing but lies.<br />
They are stupid.*<br />
15 Those idols are worth nothing.<br />
They are something to make fun of.<br />
In the time of judgment,<br />
those idols will be destroyed.<br />
16 But Jacob’s God* is not like those idols.<br />
God made everything.<br />
And Israel is the family that God chose<br />
to be his own people.<br />
God’s name is “Lord All-Powerful.”<br />
Destruction Is Coming<br />
17 Get everything you own and prepare<br />
to leave.<br />
You people of Judah are caught<br />
in the city,<br />
and the enemy is all around it.<br />
18 The Lord says:<br />
“This time, I will throw the people of Judah<br />
out of this country.<br />
I will bring pain and trouble to them.<br />
I will do this so they will learn<br />
their lesson.”*<br />
They are stupid Literally, “they have no spirit.” The Bible<br />
teaches that it is the Spirit of God that makes people wise.<br />
This might also mean “they are not alive.”<br />
Jacob’s God Literally, “Jacob’s share.” This shows that God<br />
and Israel had a special relationship—God belonged to Israel,<br />
and Israel belonged to God.”<br />
they will learn their lesson The Hebrew here is hard to<br />
understand.
JEREMIAH 10:19–11:10<br />
19 Oh, I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) am hurt badly.<br />
I am injured and I can’t be healed.<br />
Yet I told myself,<br />
“This is my sickness,<br />
I must suffer through it.”<br />
20 My tent is ruined.<br />
All the tent’s ropes are broken.<br />
My children left me.<br />
They are gone.<br />
No person is left to put up my tent.<br />
No person is left to fix a shelter for me.<br />
21 The shepherds (leaders) are stupid.<br />
They don’t try to find the Lord.<br />
They are not wise,<br />
so their flocks (people) are scattered<br />
and lost.<br />
22 Listen! A loud noise!<br />
The loud noise is coming<br />
from the north.*<br />
It will destroy the cities of Judah.<br />
Judah will become an empty desert.<br />
It will be a home for jackals.*<br />
23 Lord, I know that a person does not really<br />
own his life.<br />
People don’t really know the right way<br />
to live.<br />
24 Lord, correct us!<br />
But be fair!<br />
Don’t punish us in anger!<br />
25 If you are angry, then punish the other<br />
nations.<br />
They don’t know or respect you.<br />
Those people don’t worship you.<br />
Those nations destroyed Jacob’s family.<br />
They destroyed Israel completely.<br />
They destroyed Israel’s homeland.<br />
The Agreement Is Broken<br />
This is the message that came to<br />
11 <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. This message came from the<br />
Lord: 2“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, listen to the words of this<br />
Agreement.* Tell the people of Judah about<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.<br />
jackals A wild animal, like a dog. Those animals only live<br />
where no people are.<br />
Agreement Literally, “Proof.” The flat stones with the Ten<br />
Commandments written on them were proof of the Agreement<br />
between God and Israel.<br />
872<br />
these things. Tell these things to the people<br />
living in Jerusalem. 3This is what the Lord, the<br />
God of Israel, says: ‘Bad things will happen to<br />
any person that does not obey this<br />
Agreement.’ 4I am talking about the<br />
Agreement I made with your ancestors.* I<br />
made that Agreement with them at the time I<br />
brought them out of Egypt. {Egypt was a place<br />
of many troubles—}it was like an oven hot<br />
enough to melt iron. I told those people: Obey<br />
me and do everything I command you. If you<br />
do this, you will be my people, and I will be<br />
your God.<br />
5“I did this to keep the promise that I had<br />
made to your ancestors.* I promised to give<br />
them a very fertile land—a land flowing with<br />
milk and honey. And you are living in that<br />
country today.”<br />
I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) answered, “Amen,* Lord.”<br />
6The Lord said to me, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, preach<br />
this message in the towns of Judah and in the<br />
streets of Jerusalem. This is the message:<br />
Listen to the words of this Agreement.* And<br />
then obey those laws. 7I gave a warning to<br />
your ancestors* at the time I brought them out<br />
of the land of Egypt. I warned them again and<br />
again to this very day. I told them to obey me.<br />
8But your ancestors did not listen to me. They<br />
were stubborn and did what their own evil<br />
hearts wanted. The Agreement says that bad<br />
things will happen to them if they don’t obey.<br />
So I made all those bad things happen to them!<br />
I commanded them to obey the Agreement,<br />
but they did not.”<br />
9The Lord said to me, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, I know<br />
that the people of Judah and the people living<br />
in Jerusalem have made secret plans. 10Those<br />
people are doing the same sins that their<br />
ancestors did. Their ancestors* refused to<br />
listen to my message. They followed and<br />
worshiped other gods. The family of Israel<br />
and the family of Judah have broken the<br />
Agreement* I made with their ancestors.”<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
Amen The Hebrew word “amen” means, “truly,” or “indeed.” It<br />
is used to show that the person agrees with what has<br />
been said.
11So the Lord says: “I will soon make<br />
something terrible happen to the people of<br />
Judah. They will not be able to escape! They<br />
will be sorry. And they will cry to me for help.<br />
But I will not listen to them. 12The people in<br />
the towns of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem<br />
will go and pray to their idols for help. Those<br />
people burn incense* to those idols. But those<br />
idols will not be able to help the people of<br />
Judah when that terrible time comes.<br />
13“People of Judah, you have many idols—<br />
there are as many idols as there are towns in<br />
Judah. You have built many altars for<br />
worshiping that disgusting god Baal*—there<br />
are as many altars as there are streets in<br />
Jerusalem.<br />
14“As for you, <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, don’t pray for these<br />
people of Judah. Don’t beg for them. Don’t say<br />
prayers for them. I will not listen. Those people<br />
will begin to suffer. And then they will call to<br />
me for help. But I will not listen.<br />
15* “Why is my lover (Judah)<br />
in my house (temple)?<br />
She has no right to be there.<br />
She had done many evil things.<br />
Judah, do you think that special promises<br />
and animal sacrifices will stop you<br />
from being destroyed?<br />
Do you think you can escape punishment<br />
by offering sacrifices to me?”<br />
16 The Lord gave you a name.<br />
He called you,<br />
‘A green olive tree,<br />
beautiful to look at.’<br />
But with a strong storm,<br />
the Lord will set that tree on fire,<br />
and its branches will be burned up.<br />
17 The Lord All-Powerful planted you.<br />
And he said that disaster will come to you.<br />
Why? Because the family of Israel<br />
and the family of Judah<br />
have done evil things.<br />
incense Special dried tree sap. Burned to make a sweetsmelling<br />
smoke, it was offered as a gift to God.<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
Verses 15–16 We are not sure of the exact meaning of<br />
verses 15–16.<br />
873 JEREMIAH 11:11–12:2<br />
They offered sacrifices to Baal.”*<br />
And that made me angry!<br />
Evil Plans Against <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
18The Lord showed me that the men of<br />
Anathoth* were making plots against me.<br />
The Lord showed me the things they were<br />
doing, so I knew they were against me.<br />
19Before the Lord showed me that the people<br />
were against me, I was like a gentle lamb<br />
waiting to be butchered. I did not understand<br />
that they were against me. They were saying<br />
these things about me: “Let us destroy the<br />
tree and its fruit! Let us kill him! Then people<br />
will forget him.” 20But Lord, you are a fair<br />
judge. You know how to test peoples’ hearts<br />
and minds. I will tell you my arguments. And<br />
I will let you give them the punishment they<br />
deserve.<br />
21The men from Anathoth were planning to<br />
kill <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. Those men said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
“Don’t prophesy* in the name of the Lord, or<br />
we will kill you.” The Lord made a decision<br />
about those men from Anathoth. 22The Lord<br />
All-Powerful said, “I will soon punish those<br />
men from Anathoth. Their young men will die<br />
in war. Their sons and daughters will die from<br />
hunger. 23No person from the city of<br />
Anathoth will be left. No person will survive.<br />
I will punish them. I will cause something bad<br />
to happen to them.”<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Complains to God<br />
Lord, if I argue with you,<br />
you are always right!<br />
But I want to ask you about some things<br />
that don’t seem right.<br />
Why are wicked people successful?<br />
Why do people you can’t trust have<br />
such easy lives?<br />
2 You have put those wicked people here.<br />
They are like plants with strong roots,<br />
they grow and produce fruit.<br />
12<br />
men of Anathoth Anathoth was <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s home town. The<br />
people that were plotting against him there included his own<br />
relatives. See Jer. 12:6.<br />
prophesy To speak for God.
JEREMIAH 12:3–16<br />
With their mouths, they say that you are<br />
near and dear to them.<br />
But in their hearts, they are really far<br />
away from you.<br />
3 But you know my heart, Lord.<br />
You see me and test my mind.<br />
Drag those evil people away<br />
like sheep to be butchered.<br />
Choose them for the day of slaughter.<br />
4 How much longer will the land be dry?<br />
How long will the grass be dry and dead?<br />
The animals and birds in the land have died,<br />
And it is the fault of the wicked people.<br />
Yet those wicked people are saying,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong> will not live long enough<br />
to see what happens to us.”<br />
God’s Answer to <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
5 “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, if you get tired running<br />
in a footrace with men,<br />
how will you race against horses?<br />
If you get tired in a safe place,<br />
what will you do in a dangerous place?<br />
What will you do in the thorn bushes<br />
that grow along the Jordan River?<br />
6 These men are your own brothers.<br />
Members of your own family<br />
are making plans against you.<br />
People from your own family<br />
are yelling at you.<br />
Don’t trust them,<br />
even when they speak to you<br />
like friends.”<br />
The Lord Rejects His People, Judah<br />
7 “I (the Lord) have abandoned my house.<br />
I have left my own property.*<br />
I have given the one I love (Judah)<br />
to her enemies.<br />
8 My own people turned against me<br />
like a wild lion.<br />
They roared at me,<br />
so I turned away from them.<br />
9 My own people have become like<br />
a dying animal surrounded by vultures.<br />
Those birds fly around her.<br />
Come on, wild animals.<br />
Come get something to eat.<br />
house … my own property That is, the people of Judah.<br />
874<br />
10 Many shepherds (leaders) have ruined<br />
my field of grapes.<br />
Those shepherds have walked<br />
on the plants in my field.<br />
Those shepherds have made my<br />
beautiful field<br />
into an empty desert.<br />
11 They changed my field to a desert.<br />
It is dry and dead.<br />
No people live there.<br />
The whole country is an empty desert.<br />
There is no person left to care for that field.<br />
12 Soldiers came to take things<br />
from every place in that empty land.<br />
The Lord used those armies<br />
to punish that land.<br />
People from one end of the land<br />
to the other were punished.<br />
No person was safe.<br />
13 The people will plant wheat,<br />
but they will harvest only thorns.<br />
They will work hard until they<br />
are very tired,<br />
but they will get nothing for all<br />
their work.<br />
They will be ashamed of their crop.<br />
The Lord’s anger caused those things.”<br />
The Lord’s Promise to Israel’s Neighbors<br />
14This is what the Lord says: “I will tell you<br />
what I will do for all the people that live around<br />
the land of Israel. Those people are very<br />
wicked. They have destroyed the land I gave to<br />
the people of Israel. I will pull those evil people<br />
up and throw them out of their land. And I will<br />
pull the people of Judah up with them. 15But<br />
after I pull those people out of their land, I will<br />
feel sorry for them. I will bring each family<br />
back to its own property and to its own land.<br />
16I want those people to learn their lessons well.<br />
In the past, those people taught my people to<br />
use Baal’s* name to make promises. Now, I<br />
want those people to learn their lessons just as<br />
well. I want those people to learn to use my<br />
name. I want those people to say, ‘As the Lord<br />
lives …’ If those people do that, then I will<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.
allow them to be successful and I will let them<br />
live among my people. 17But if any nation does<br />
not listen to my message, then I will completely<br />
destroy it. I will pull it up like a dead plant.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
The Sign of the Loincloth<br />
This is what the Lord said to me:<br />
13“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go and buy a linen loincloth.*<br />
Then put it around your waist. Don’t let the<br />
loincloth get wet.”<br />
2So I bought a linen loincloth,* just as the<br />
Lord told me to do. And I put it around my<br />
waist. 3Then the message of the Lord came to<br />
me a second time. 4This was the message:<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, take the loincloth you bought and<br />
are wearing, and go to Perath.* Hide the<br />
loincloth there in a crack in the rocks.”<br />
5So I went to Perath* and hid the loincloth*<br />
there, just like the Lord told me to do. 6Many<br />
days later, the Lord said to me, “Now,<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go to Perath. Get the loincloth that I<br />
told you to hide there.”<br />
7So I went to Perath and dug up the<br />
loincloth.* I took it out of the crack in the<br />
rocks where I had hidden it. But now I could<br />
not wear the loincloth, because it was ruined.<br />
It was not good for anything.<br />
8Then the message of the Lord came to me.<br />
9This is what the Lord said: “The loincloth* is<br />
ruined and not good for anything. In the same<br />
way, I will ruin the proud people of Judah and<br />
Jerusalem. 10I will ruin those proud and evil<br />
people of Judah. They refuse to listen to my<br />
messages. They are stubborn and do only the<br />
things they want to do. They follow and<br />
worship other gods. Those people of Judah will<br />
become like this linen loincloth. They will be<br />
ruined and not good for anything. 11A loincloth<br />
is wrapped tightly around a man’s waist. In the<br />
same way, I wrapped all the family of Israel<br />
and all the family of Judah around me.” This<br />
message is from the Lord.” I did that so those<br />
loincloth A common undergarment in ancient Judah. It was a<br />
short skirt that was wrapped around the hips. It reached about<br />
halfway down the thighs.<br />
Perath Probably a village near Jerusalem. It is probably the<br />
town that is called Parah in the list of the cities of the land of<br />
Benjamin in Joshua 18:23. But the name “Perath” also means<br />
the Euphrates River.<br />
875 JEREMIAH 12:17–13:17<br />
people would be my people. Then my people<br />
would bring fame, praise, and honor to me. But<br />
my people would not listen to me.”<br />
Warnings to Judah<br />
12“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, say to the people of Judah:<br />
‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel,<br />
says: Every wineskin* should be filled with<br />
wine.’ Those people will laugh and say to<br />
you, ‘Of course, we know that every wineskin<br />
should be filled with wine.’ 13Then you will<br />
say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I<br />
will make everyone that lives in this land<br />
helpless, like a drunken man. I am talking<br />
about the kings that sit on David’s throne. I<br />
am also talking about the priests, the prophets,<br />
and all the people that live in Jerusalem. 14I<br />
will make the people of Judah stumble and<br />
fall into one another. Fathers and sons will<br />
fall into one another.’” This message is from<br />
the Lord. “‘I will not feel sorry or have pity<br />
for them. I will not allow compassion to stop<br />
me from destroying the people of Judah.’”<br />
15 Listen and pay attention.<br />
The Lord has spoken to you.<br />
Don’t be proud.<br />
16 Honor the Lord your God.<br />
Praise him or he will bring darkness.<br />
Praise him before you fall<br />
on the dark hills.<br />
You people of Judah are hoping for light.<br />
But the Lord will turn the light into<br />
thick darkness.<br />
The Lord will change the light into a<br />
very thick darkness.<br />
17 If you people of Judah don’t listen<br />
to the Lord,<br />
I will hide and cry.<br />
Your pride will cause me to cry.<br />
I will cry very hard.<br />
My eyes will overflow with tears.<br />
Why? Because the Lord’s flock*<br />
will be captured.<br />
wineskin A bottle made from the skin of an animal and used for<br />
storing wine.<br />
Lord’s flock This is a figurative name for the people of Judah.<br />
The Lord is thought of as a shepherd, while his people are<br />
seen as his flock of sheep.
JEREMIAH 13:18–14:3<br />
18 Tell these things to the king and his wife,<br />
“Come down from your thrones.<br />
Your beautiful crowns have fallen<br />
from your heads.”<br />
19 The cities in the Negev desert* are locked.<br />
No person can open them.<br />
All the people of Judah are taken<br />
into exile.*<br />
They were carried away as prisoners.<br />
20 Jerusalem, look!<br />
The enemy is coming from the north!*<br />
Where is your flock?*<br />
God gave that beautiful flock to you.<br />
{You were supposed to care for that flock.}<br />
21 What will you say when the Lord asks you<br />
to account for that flock?<br />
You were supposed to teach the people<br />
{about God}.<br />
Your leaders were supposed to lead<br />
the people.<br />
{But they did not do their job!}<br />
So you will have much pain and troubles.<br />
You will be like a woman having<br />
a baby.<br />
22 You might ask yourself,<br />
“Why has this bad thing happened to me?”<br />
Those things happened because of your<br />
many sins.<br />
Because of your sins,<br />
your skirt was torn off<br />
and your shoes were taken away.<br />
They did this to embarrass you.<br />
23 A black man can’t change<br />
the color of his skin.<br />
And a leopard can’t change his spots.<br />
In the same way, Jerusalem, you can’t<br />
change and do good.<br />
You always do bad things.<br />
24 “I will force you to leave your homes.<br />
You will run in all directions.<br />
Negev desert The desert area in the southern part of the<br />
kingdom of Judah.<br />
exile Being forced to leave one’s home country and being<br />
moved to a foreign country.<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.<br />
flock Here, the word “flock” refers to all the towns around<br />
Jerusalem, as if Jerusalem were the shepherd and the towns of<br />
Judah were her flock.<br />
876<br />
You will be like chaff* blown away<br />
by the desert wind.<br />
25 These are the things that will happen to you.<br />
This is your part in my plans.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“Why will this happen?<br />
Because you forgot me.<br />
You trusted false gods.<br />
26 Jerusalem, I will pull your skirt up over<br />
your face.<br />
Everyone will see you,<br />
and you will be ashamed.<br />
27 I saw the terrible things you did.*<br />
I saw you laughing<br />
and having sex with your lovers.<br />
I know about your plans<br />
to be like a prostitute.*<br />
I have seen you on the hills<br />
and in the fields.<br />
It will be very bad for you, Jerusalem.<br />
I wonder how long you will continue doing<br />
your dirty sins.”<br />
14<br />
Drought and False Prophets<br />
This is the Lord’s message to <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
about the drought:*<br />
2 “The nation of Judah cries for people<br />
that have died.<br />
The people in the cities of Judah<br />
grow weaker and weaker.<br />
Those people lie on the ground.<br />
People in Jerusalem cry to God for help.<br />
3 The leaders of the people send their servants<br />
to get water.<br />
The servants go to the water storage places,<br />
but they don’t find any water.<br />
The servants come back with empty jars.<br />
So they are ashamed and embarrassed.<br />
They cover their heads from shame.<br />
chaff The seed coverings and stems separated from the seeds of<br />
plants like wheat or barley. Farmers saved the seeds but let the<br />
wind blow the useless chaff away.<br />
I saw … you did This is probably talking about worshiping<br />
false gods. But part of that worship was having sex with<br />
temple prostitutes.<br />
prostitute A woman paid by men for sexual sin. Sometimes this<br />
also means a person that is not faithful to God and stops<br />
following him.<br />
drought A time when no rain falls and the crops become dry<br />
and die.
4 No person prepares the ground for crops.*<br />
No rain falls on the land.<br />
The farmers are depressed.<br />
So they cover their heads from shame.<br />
5 Even the mother deer in the field<br />
leaves her newborn baby alone.<br />
She does this because there is no grass.<br />
6 Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills.<br />
They sniff the wind like jackals.*<br />
But their eyes can’t find any food,<br />
because there are no plants to eat.<br />
7 “We know that those things are our fault.<br />
We are now suffering because of our sins.<br />
Lord, do something to help us for the<br />
good of your name.<br />
We admit that we left you many times.<br />
We have sinned against you.<br />
8 God, you are the Hope of Israel!<br />
You save Israel in times of trouble.<br />
But now it seems like you are<br />
a stranger in the land.<br />
It seems like you are a traveler that only<br />
stays one night.<br />
9 You seem like a man that has been<br />
attacked by surprise.<br />
You seem like a soldier that does not<br />
have the power to save anyone.<br />
But Lord, you are with us.<br />
We are called by your name,<br />
So don’t leave us without help!”<br />
10This is what the Lord says about the<br />
people of Judah: “The people of Judah really<br />
love to leave me. Those people don’t stop<br />
themselves from leaving me. So now, the<br />
Lord will not accept them. Now the Lord will<br />
remember the bad things they do. The Lord<br />
will punish them for their sins.”<br />
11Then the Lord said to me, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
don’t pray for good things to happen to the<br />
people of Judah. 12The people of Judah might<br />
begin to fast* {and pray to me}. But I will not<br />
listen to their prayers. Even if they offer burnt<br />
No person prepares the ground for crops Following the<br />
ancient Greek translation. The Hebrew is hard to understand.<br />
jackals A wild animal, like a dog. Those animals only live<br />
where no people are.<br />
fast Going without food for a special time of prayer and<br />
877 JEREMIAH 14:4–18<br />
offerings and grain offerings to me, I will not<br />
accept those people. I will destroy the people<br />
of Judah with war. I will take away their food,<br />
and the people of Judah will starve. And I will<br />
destroy them with terrible diseases.”<br />
13But I said to the Lord, “Lord, my Master,<br />
the prophets were telling the people something<br />
different. They were telling the people of Judah,<br />
‘You people will not suffer from an enemy’s<br />
sword. You will never suffer from hunger. The<br />
Lord will give you peace in this land.’”<br />
14Then the Lord said to me, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
those prophets are preaching lies in my name.<br />
I did not send those prophets. I did not<br />
command them or speak to them. Those<br />
prophets have been preaching false visions,<br />
worthless magic, and their own wishful<br />
thinking. 15So this is what I say about the<br />
prophets that are preaching in my name. I did<br />
not send those prophets. Those prophets said,<br />
‘No enemy with swords will ever attack this<br />
country. There will never be hunger in this<br />
land.’ Those prophets will die from hunger<br />
and an enemy’s sword will kill them. 16And<br />
the people those prophets spoke to will be<br />
thrown into the streets. Those people will die<br />
from hunger and from an enemy’s sword. No<br />
person will be there to bury those people, or<br />
their wives or their sons or daughters. I will<br />
punish them.<br />
17 “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, speak this message<br />
to the people of Judah:<br />
‘My eyes are filled with tears.<br />
I will cry night and day without stopping.<br />
I will cry for my virgin daughter.*<br />
I will cry for my people.<br />
Why? Because someone hit them<br />
and crushed them.<br />
They have been hurt very badly.<br />
18 If I go into the country,<br />
I see the people that were killed<br />
with swords.<br />
If I go into the city,<br />
I see much sickness,<br />
because the people have no food.<br />
The priests and the prophets<br />
have been taken away to a foreign land.’”<br />
worship. virgin daughter This is another name for Jerusalem.
JEREMIAH 14:19–15:8<br />
19 “Lord, have you completely rejected<br />
the nation of Judah?<br />
Lord, do you hate Zion*?<br />
You hurt us so badly<br />
that we can’t be made well again.<br />
Why did you do that?<br />
We were hoping for peace,<br />
but nothing good has come.<br />
We were hoping for a time of healing,<br />
but only terror came.<br />
20 Lord, we know that we are evil people.<br />
We know that our ancestors*<br />
did bad things.<br />
Yes, we sinned against you.<br />
21 Lord, for the good of your name,<br />
don’t push us away.<br />
Don’t take away the honor<br />
from your glorious throne.<br />
Remember your Agreement* with us.<br />
Don’t break that Agreement.<br />
22 Foreign idols don’t have the power<br />
to bring rain.<br />
The sky does not have the power<br />
to send showers of rain down.<br />
You are our only hope.<br />
You are the One who made all<br />
these things.”<br />
The Lord said to me, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, even if<br />
15Moses and Samuel were here to pray for<br />
the people of Judah, I would not feel sorry for<br />
these people. Send the people of Judah away<br />
from me. Tell them to go. 2Those people<br />
might ask you, ‘Where will we go?’ You tell<br />
them this: This is what the Lord says:<br />
‘I have chosen some people to die.<br />
Those people will die.<br />
I have chosen some people<br />
to be killed with swords.<br />
Those people will be killed with swords.<br />
I have chosen some people<br />
to die from hunger.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
Agreement Literally, “Proof.” The flat stones with the Ten<br />
Commandments written on them were proof of the Agreement<br />
between God and Israel.<br />
878<br />
Those people will die from hunger.<br />
I have chosen some people<br />
to be captured and carried<br />
to a foreign country.<br />
Those people will be prisoners in that<br />
foreign country.<br />
3 I will send four kinds of destroyers<br />
against them.’<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
‘I will send the enemy with a sword to kill.<br />
I will send the dogs to drag their<br />
bodies away.<br />
I will send birds of the air and wild animals<br />
to eat and destroy their bodies.<br />
4 I will make the people of Judah<br />
an example of some terrible thing<br />
for all the people on earth.<br />
I will do this to the people of Judah<br />
because of what Manasseh* did<br />
in Jerusalem.<br />
Manasseh was the son of King Hezekiah.<br />
Manasseh was a king of Judah.’<br />
5 “No person will feel sorry for you,<br />
city of Jerusalem.<br />
No person will be sad and cry for you.<br />
No person will go out of his way<br />
to even ask how you are!<br />
6 Jerusalem, you left me.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“Again and again you left me!<br />
So I will punish and destroy you.<br />
I am tired of holding back<br />
your punishment.<br />
7 I will separate the people of Judah<br />
with my pitchfork.*<br />
I will scatter them at the city gates<br />
of the land.<br />
My people have not changed.<br />
So I will destroy them.<br />
I will take away their children.<br />
8 Many women will lose their husbands.<br />
There will be more widows<br />
than there is sand in the sea.<br />
I will bring a destroyer at noontime.<br />
The destroyer will attack the mothers<br />
of the young men of Judah.<br />
Manasseh Manasseh was the most evil king of Judah,<br />
according to 2 Kings 21:1–16. He worshiped many gods.<br />
pitchfork A tool with sharp points for throwing hay from one<br />
place to another.
I will bring pain and fear<br />
on the people of Judah.<br />
I will make this happen very quickly.<br />
9 The enemy will attack with swords<br />
and kill the people.<br />
They will kill the survivors* from Judah.<br />
A woman might have seven sons,<br />
{but they will all die.}<br />
She will cry and cry<br />
until she becomes weak<br />
and not able to breathe.<br />
She will be upset and confused.<br />
Her bright day will become dark<br />
from sadness.”<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Again Complains to God<br />
10 Mother, I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) am sorry<br />
that you gave birth to me.<br />
I am the person that must accuse<br />
and criticize the whole land.<br />
I have not loaned or borrowed anything.<br />
But every person curses me.<br />
11 Truly, Lord, I have served you well.<br />
In time of troubles, I prayed to you<br />
about my enemies.<br />
God Answers <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
12 “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you know that no person<br />
can shatter a piece of iron.<br />
I mean the kind of iron<br />
that is from the north.*<br />
And no person can shatter a piece of<br />
bronze either.<br />
13 The people of Judah have many treasures.<br />
I will give those riches to other people.<br />
Those other people will not have<br />
to buy them.<br />
{I will give those riches to them.}<br />
Why? Because Judah has many sins.<br />
People sinned in every part of Judah<br />
14 People of Judah, I will make you slaves<br />
of your enemies.<br />
You will be slaves in a land<br />
that you never knew.<br />
survivors People that escaped some disaster. Here this means<br />
the Jewish people that survived the destruction of Judah and<br />
Israel by its enemy armies.<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.<br />
879 JEREMIAH 15:9–20<br />
I am very angry.<br />
My anger is like a hot fire,<br />
and you will be burned.”<br />
15 Lord, you understand me.<br />
Remember me and take care of me.<br />
People are hurting me.<br />
Give those people the punishment<br />
that they deserve.<br />
You are being patient with those people.<br />
But don’t destroy me<br />
while you remain patient with them.<br />
Think about me.<br />
Think about the pain I suffer for you,<br />
Lord.<br />
16 Your message came to me<br />
and I ate your words.<br />
Your message made me very happy.<br />
I was happy to be called by your name.<br />
Your name is Lord All-Powerful.<br />
17 I never sat with the crowd<br />
as they laughed and had fun.<br />
I sat by myself because of your<br />
influence on me.<br />
You filled me with anger<br />
at the evil around me.<br />
18 I don’t understand why I still hurt.<br />
I don’t understand why my wound<br />
is not cured and cannot be healed.<br />
Lord, I think you have changed.<br />
You are like a spring of water<br />
that became dry.<br />
You are like a spring<br />
whose water has stopped flowing.<br />
19 Then, the Lord said,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, if you change<br />
and come back to me,<br />
then I will not punish you.<br />
If you change and come back to me,<br />
then you can serve me.<br />
If you speak important things,<br />
and not those worthless words,<br />
then you can speak for me.<br />
The people of Judah should change<br />
and come back to you {<strong>Jeremiah</strong>}.<br />
But don’t you change<br />
and be like them.<br />
20 I will make you strong.<br />
Those people will think you are strong<br />
like a wall made of bronze.
JEREMIAH 15:21–16:16 880<br />
The people of Judah will fight against you.<br />
But they will not defeat you.<br />
They will not defeat you.<br />
Why? Because I am with you.<br />
I will help you and I will save you.”<br />
21<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“I will save you from those evil people.<br />
Those people scare you.<br />
But I will save you from those people.”<br />
The Day of Disaster<br />
The Lord’s message came to me:<br />
16 2“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you must not get married.<br />
You must not have sons or daughters in this<br />
place.”<br />
3The Lord says these things about the sons<br />
and daughters that are born in the land of<br />
Judah. And this is what the Lord says about<br />
the mothers and fathers of those children:<br />
4“Those people will die a terrible death. No<br />
person will cry for those people. No person<br />
will bury them. Their bodies will lie on the<br />
ground like dung. Those people will die by an<br />
enemy’s sword, or they will starve to death.<br />
Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of<br />
the sky and the wild animals of the earth.”<br />
5So the Lord says: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, don’t go into<br />
a house where people are eating a funeral<br />
meal. Don’t go there to cry for the dead or<br />
show your sorrow. Don’t do those things.<br />
Why? Because I have taken back my blessing.<br />
I will not be kind to these people of Judah. I<br />
will not feel sorry for them.” This message is<br />
from the Lord.<br />
6“Important people and common people will<br />
die in the land of Judah. No person will bury<br />
those people or cry for them. No person will cut<br />
himself or shave his head to show sorrow for<br />
those people. 7No person will bring food to the<br />
people that are crying for the dead. No person<br />
will comfort those people whose mother or<br />
father has died. No person will offer a drink to<br />
comfort the people that are crying for the dead.<br />
8“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, don’t go into a house where the<br />
people are having a party. Don’t go into that<br />
house and sit down to eat and drink. 9The<br />
sounds people make during a wedding party.<br />
This will happen during your lifetime. I will<br />
do these things quickly.’<br />
10“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you will tell the people of<br />
Judah these things. And the people will ask<br />
you, ‘Why has the Lord said these terrible<br />
things to us? What have we done wrong?<br />
What sin have we done against the Lord our<br />
God?’<br />
Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel says<br />
these things: ‘I will soon stop the sounds of<br />
people having fun. I will stop the happy<br />
11You must say these things to those<br />
people: ‘Terrible things will happen to you<br />
because your ancestors* quit following me.’<br />
This message is from the Lord. ‘They quit<br />
following me and began to follow and serve<br />
other gods. They worshiped those other gods.<br />
Your ancestors left me and `quit obeying my<br />
law. 12But you people have sinned more than<br />
your ancestors. You are very stubborn. And<br />
you are doing only the things that you want to<br />
do. You are not obeying me. You do only<br />
what you want to do. 13So I will throw you<br />
out of this country. I will force you to go to a<br />
foreign country. You will go to a land that<br />
you and your ancestors never knew. In that<br />
land you can serve false gods all you want to.<br />
I will not help you or show you any favors.’<br />
14“People make promises and say, ‘As<br />
surely as the Lord lives. He is the One who<br />
brought the people of Israel out of the land of<br />
Egypt.’ But the time is coming,” this message<br />
is from the Lord, “when people will not say<br />
those things. 15The people will say something<br />
new. They will say, ‘As surely as the Lord<br />
lives. He is the One who brought the people of<br />
Israel out of the northern land. He brought<br />
them out of all the countries where he had sent<br />
them.’ Why will the people say these things?<br />
Because I will bring the people of Israel back<br />
to the land that I gave to their ancestors.*<br />
16“I will soon send for many fishermen to<br />
come to this land.” This message is from the<br />
Lord. “Those fishermen will catch the people<br />
of Judah. After that happens, I will send for<br />
many hunters to come to this land. Those<br />
hunters* will hunt the people of Judah on<br />
every mountain and hill and in the cracks of<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
fishermen … hunters This means the enemy soldiers from<br />
Babylon.
the rocks. 17I see everything they do. The<br />
people of Judah can’t hide from me the things<br />
they do. Their sin is not hidden from me. 18I<br />
will pay the people of Judah back for the bad<br />
things they did—I will punish them two times<br />
for every sin. I will do this because they have<br />
made my land ‘dirty.’ They made my land<br />
‘dirty’ with their terrible idols. I hate those<br />
idols. But they have filled my country with<br />
their idols.”<br />
19 Lord, you are my strength<br />
and my protection.<br />
You are a safe place to run to<br />
in time of trouble.<br />
The nations will come to you<br />
from all around the world.<br />
They will say,<br />
“Our fathers had false gods.<br />
They worshiped those worthless idols,<br />
but those idols did not help<br />
them at all.”<br />
20 Can people make real gods for themselves?<br />
No! They can make statues,<br />
but those statues are not really gods.<br />
21 So I will teach those people that make<br />
idols.<br />
Right now I will teach them<br />
about my power and my strength.<br />
Then they will know that I am God.<br />
They will know that I am the Lord.”<br />
17<br />
Guilt Written on the Heart<br />
“ The sins of the people of Judah<br />
are written down in a place<br />
where they can’t be erased.<br />
Those sins were cut into stone<br />
with an iron pen.<br />
Their sins were cut into stone<br />
with a diamond tipped pen.*<br />
And that stone is their heart.<br />
Those sins were cut<br />
into the horns of their altars.*<br />
diamond tipped pen Or, “flint-tipped pen.”<br />
horns of their altars The corners of altars were shaped like<br />
horns. This was like a place of safety for the people. If a<br />
person did something wrong, he could run to the altar. People<br />
could punish them only if they proved the person was guilty.<br />
Here <strong>Jeremiah</strong> is saying that there is no safe place for the<br />
people of Judah.<br />
881 JEREMIAH 16:17–17:8<br />
2 Their children remember the altars<br />
that were dedicated to false gods.<br />
They remember the wooden poles<br />
that were dedicated to Asherah.*<br />
They remember those things<br />
under the green trees and on the hills.<br />
3 They remember those things<br />
on the mountains in the open country.<br />
The people of Judah have many treasures.<br />
I will give those things to other people.<br />
People will destroy all the high places*<br />
in your country.<br />
You worshiped at those places.<br />
And that was a sin.<br />
4 You will lose the land I gave you.<br />
I will let your enemies take you<br />
to be their slaves.<br />
Why? Because I am very angry.<br />
My anger is like a hot fire,<br />
and you will be burned forever.”<br />
Trusting in People, and Trusting in God<br />
5 The Lord says these things:<br />
“Bad things will happen to people<br />
that trust only other people.<br />
Bad things will happen to people<br />
that depend on other people for strength.<br />
Why? Because those people have stopped<br />
trusting the Lord.<br />
6 Those people are like a bush in a desert.<br />
That bush is in a land where no<br />
people live.<br />
That bush is in a hot and dry land.<br />
That bush is in a bad soil.<br />
That bush does not know<br />
about the good things that God<br />
can give.<br />
7 But the person that trusts in the Lord<br />
will be blessed.<br />
Why? Because the Lord will show him<br />
that the Lord can be trusted.<br />
8 That person will be strong<br />
like a tree planted near water.<br />
That tree has large roots that find the water.<br />
Asherah An important Canaanite goddess. At this time, the<br />
people thought she was the wife of Baal.<br />
high places Special places where the people worshiped false<br />
gods. These places were often on hilltops, but not always.<br />
Some ‘high places’ were in valleys.
JEREMIAH 17:9–24<br />
That tree is not afraid<br />
when the days are hot.<br />
Its leaves are always green.<br />
It does not worry in a year<br />
when no rain comes.<br />
That tree always produces fruit.<br />
9 “A person’s mind is very tricky!<br />
The mind can be very sick,<br />
and no person truly understands it.<br />
10 But I am the Lord,<br />
and I can look into a person’s heart.<br />
I can test a person’s mind.<br />
I can decide what each person should have.<br />
I can give each person the right payment<br />
for the things he does.<br />
11 Sometimes a bird will hatch an egg<br />
that it did not lay.<br />
A person that cheats to get money<br />
is like that bird.<br />
When that man’s life is half finished,<br />
he will lose the money.<br />
At the end of his life, it will be clear<br />
that he was a foolish person.”<br />
12 From the very beginning, our temple*<br />
has been a glorious throne for God.<br />
It is a very important place.<br />
13 Lord, you are the hope of Israel.<br />
Lord, you are like a spring of<br />
living water.<br />
If a person quits following the Lord,<br />
then his life will be very short.*<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Third Complaint<br />
14 Lord, if you heal me,<br />
I truly will be healed.<br />
Save me,<br />
and I truly will be saved.<br />
Lord, I praise you!<br />
15 The people of Judah continue to ask<br />
me questions.<br />
They say,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, what about the message<br />
from the Lord?<br />
Let’s see that message come true.”<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
his life will be very short Literally, “He will be written in the<br />
dirt.” This might mean a person’s name was written on a list of<br />
people that would soon die. Or that a person’s life will soon be<br />
gone—like a name written in the sand.<br />
882<br />
16 Lord, I did not run away from you.<br />
I followed you.<br />
I became the shepherd* you wanted.<br />
I did not want the terrible day to come.<br />
Lord, you know the things I said.<br />
You see all that is happening.<br />
17 Lord, don’t ruin me.<br />
I depend on you in times of trouble.<br />
18 People are hurting me.<br />
Make those people ashamed.<br />
But don’t disappoint me.<br />
Let those people be scared.<br />
But don’t scare me.<br />
Bring the terrible day of disaster<br />
to my enemies.<br />
Break them.<br />
And break them again.<br />
Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy<br />
19The Lord said these things to me:<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go and stand at the People’s<br />
Gate,* where the kings of Judah go in and<br />
out. {Tell the people my message, and then} go<br />
to all the other gates of Jerusalem and do the<br />
same things.”<br />
20Say to those people: “Listen to the<br />
message of the Lord. Listen, kings of Judah.<br />
Listen, all you people of Judah. All you<br />
people that come through these gates into<br />
Jerusalem, listen to me! 21The Lord says these<br />
things: Be careful that you don’t carry a load<br />
on the Sabbath* day. And don’t bring a load<br />
through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath<br />
day. 22Don’t bring a load out of your houses<br />
on the Sabbath day. Don’t do any work on<br />
that day. You must make the Sabbath day a<br />
holy day. I gave this same command to your<br />
ancestors.* 23But your ancestors did not obey<br />
me. They did not pay attention to me. Your<br />
ancestors were very stubborn. I punished<br />
them, but it did not do any good. They did not<br />
listen to me. 24But you must be careful to<br />
shepherd God’s people are sometimes called his “sheep,” and<br />
the person that takes care of them is called the “shepherd.”<br />
People’s Gate This might be one of the gates into Jerusalem or<br />
perhaps one of the southern gates the non-priests used to go<br />
up into the temple.<br />
Sabbath Saturday, a special day of rest and worship for Jews.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.
obey me.” This message is from the Lord.<br />
“You must not bring a load through the gates<br />
of Jerusalem on the Sabbath. You must make<br />
the Sabbath day a holy day. You will do this<br />
by not doing any work on that day.<br />
25“If you obey this command, then kings<br />
that sit on David’s throne will come through<br />
the gates of Jerusalem. Those kings will come<br />
riding on chariots* and on horses. The leaders<br />
of the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be<br />
with those kings. And Jerusalem will have<br />
people living in it forever! 26People will come<br />
to Jerusalem from the towns of Judah. People<br />
will come to Jerusalem from the little villages<br />
that are around it. People will come from the<br />
land where the family group of Benjamin<br />
lives.* People will come from the western<br />
foothills and from the hill country. And people<br />
will come from the Negev.* All those people<br />
will bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, grains<br />
offerings, incense,* and thank offerings. They<br />
will bring those offerings and sacrifices to the<br />
temple of the Lord.<br />
27“But if you don’t listen to me and obey<br />
me, then bad things will happen. If you carry<br />
loads into Jerusalem on the Sabbath* day,<br />
then you are not keeping it a holy day. So I<br />
will start a fire that can’t be put out. That fire<br />
will start at the gates of Jerusalem, and it will<br />
burn until it burns even the palaces.*”<br />
The Potter and the Clay<br />
This is the message that came to<br />
18<strong>Jeremiah</strong> from the Lord: 2“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go<br />
down to the potter’s* house. I will give you<br />
my message at the potter’s house.”<br />
3So I went down to the potter’s house. I<br />
saw the potter working with clay at the wheel.<br />
4He was making a pot from clay. But there<br />
chariot(s) A small wagon used in war.<br />
the land where … Benjamin lives The land of Benjamin was<br />
just north of the land of Judah.<br />
Negev The desert area south of Judah.<br />
incense Special dried tree sap. Burned to make a sweetsmelling<br />
smoke, it was offered as a gift to God.<br />
Sabbath Saturday, a special day of rest and worship for Jews.<br />
palaces A large house for the king and his family.<br />
potter’s Someone that makes pottery (jars, bowls, etc.) from<br />
clay. The Hebrew word also means, “Creator, or “a person<br />
that makes new things.”<br />
883 JEREMIAH 17:25–18:14<br />
was something wrong with the pot. So the<br />
potter used that clay again, and he made<br />
another pot. He used his hands to shape the<br />
pot the way that he wanted it to be.<br />
5Then the message from the Lord came to<br />
me: 6“Family of Israel, you know that I (God)<br />
can do the same thing with you. You are like<br />
the clay in the potter’s* hands. And I am like<br />
the potter! 7There may come a time that I will<br />
speak about a nation or a kingdom. I may say<br />
that I will pull that nation up. Or maybe I will<br />
say that I will pull that nation down and<br />
destroy that nation or kingdom. 8But the<br />
people of that nation might change their<br />
hearts and lives. The people in that nation<br />
might stop doing evil things. Then I would<br />
change my mind. I would not follow my plans<br />
to bring disaster to that nation. 9There might<br />
come another time when I speak about a<br />
nation. I might say that I will build up and<br />
plant that nation. 10But I might see that nation<br />
doing evil things and not obeying me. Then I<br />
would think again about the good I had<br />
planned to do for that nation.<br />
11“So, <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, say to the people of Judah<br />
and the people that live in Jerusalem, ‘This is<br />
what the Lord says: I am preparing troubles<br />
for you right now. I am making plans against<br />
you. So stop doing the evil things that you are<br />
doing. Each person must change and start<br />
doing good things!’ 12But the people of Judah<br />
will answer, ‘It will not do any good to try.<br />
We will continue to do what we want. Each of<br />
us is going to do the things his stubborn, evil<br />
heart wants.’”<br />
13 Listen to the things the Lord says:<br />
“Ask the other nations this question:<br />
‘Have you ever heard of anyone<br />
doing the evil things Israel has done?’<br />
And Israel is special to God.<br />
Israel is like God’s bride!<br />
14 You know that rocks never leave the fields<br />
by themselves.*<br />
You know … themselves This is probably a word play. In<br />
Hebrew this sounds like, “Would anyone leave the Rock,<br />
Shaddai?” These are two names for God. But this could also be<br />
translated, “Does Lebanon’s snow ever melt from Shaddai’s<br />
mountain?” This would probably mean Mount Hermon.
JEREMIAH 18:15–19:5 884<br />
You know that the snow on the mountains Let their wives be without children.<br />
15<br />
16<br />
of Lebanon never melts.<br />
You know that cool, flowing streams<br />
do not become dry.<br />
But my people have forgotten about me.<br />
They make offerings to worthless idols.<br />
My people stumble in the things they do.<br />
They stumble about in the old paths<br />
of their ancestors.*<br />
My people would rather walk<br />
along back roads and poor highways,<br />
than to follow me on the good roads.<br />
So Judah’s country will become<br />
an empty desert.<br />
People will whistle and shake their heads<br />
every time they pass by.<br />
They will be shocked<br />
at how the country was destroyed.<br />
22<br />
23<br />
Let the men from Judah be put to death.<br />
Make their wives into widows.<br />
Let the men from Judah be put to death.<br />
Let the young men be killed in battle.<br />
Let there be crying in their houses.<br />
Make them cry when you suddenly<br />
bring an enemy against them.<br />
Let all this happen because my enemies<br />
tried to trap me.<br />
They hid traps for me to step in.<br />
Lord, you know about their plans<br />
to kill me.<br />
Don’t forgive their crimes.<br />
Don’t erase their sins.<br />
Destroy my enemies!<br />
Punish those people while you are angry!<br />
17 I will scatter the people of Judah.<br />
They will run from their enemies.<br />
I will scatter the people of Judah like<br />
an east wind that blows things away.<br />
I will destroy those people.<br />
They won’t see me coming to help them.<br />
No! They will see me leaving!”<br />
The Broken Jar<br />
The Lord said to me: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go and<br />
19buy a clay jar from a potter.*<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Fourth Complaint<br />
18Then the enemies of <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said,<br />
“Come, let us make plans against <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
Surely the teaching of the law by the priest<br />
will not be lost. And the advice from the wise<br />
men will still be with us. We will still have the<br />
words of the prophets. So let us tell lies about<br />
him. That will ruin him. We will not pay<br />
attention to anything he says.”<br />
19<br />
20<br />
Lord, listen to me!<br />
Listen to my arguments<br />
and decide who is right.<br />
I have been good to the people of Judah.<br />
But now they are paying me back<br />
with evil.<br />
21<br />
They are trying to trap me and kill me.<br />
So make their children starve in a famine.*<br />
Let their enemies defeat them<br />
with swords.<br />
2Go out to<br />
the Valley of Ben Hinnom, near the front of<br />
the Potsherd Gate.* Take some of the elders<br />
(leaders) of the people and some priests with<br />
you. At that place, tell them the things that I<br />
tell you. 3Say to those people with you, ‘King<br />
of Judah and people of Jerusalem, listen to this<br />
message from the Lord! This is what the Lord<br />
All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel,<br />
says: I will soon make a terrible thing happen<br />
to this place! Every person that hears about it<br />
will be amazed and full of fear. 4I will do<br />
these things because the people of Judah quit<br />
following me. They have made this a place for<br />
foreign gods. The people of Judah have<br />
burned sacrifices in this place to other gods.<br />
The people did not worship those gods long<br />
ago. Their ancestors* did not worship those<br />
gods. These are new gods from other<br />
countries. The kings of Judah filled this place<br />
with the blood of the innocent children. 5The<br />
kings of Judah built high places* for the god<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
famine A time when there is not enough rain for crops to grow.<br />
People and animals die without enough food or water.<br />
potter A worker that makes things from clay. The Hebrew word<br />
also means “creator.”<br />
Potsherd Gate The exact location of this gate is not known,<br />
though it was probably at the southwestern part of the city.<br />
high places Special places where the people worshiped false<br />
gods. These places were often on hilltops, but not always.<br />
Some ‘high places’ were in valleys.
Baal.* They use those places to burn their sons<br />
in the fire. They burned their sons as burnt<br />
offerings to the god Baal. I did not tell them to<br />
do that. I did not ask you to offer your sons as<br />
sacrifices. I never even thought of such a<br />
thing. 6Now people call this place Topheth<br />
and the Valley of Hinnom. But, I give you this<br />
warning. This message is from the Lord: The<br />
days are coming, when people will call this<br />
place the Valley of Slaughter.* 7At this place,<br />
I will ruin the plans of the people of Judah and<br />
Jerusalem. The enemy will chase these people.<br />
And I will let the people of Judah be killed<br />
with swords in this place. And I will make<br />
their dead bodies food for the birds and wild<br />
animals. 8I will completely destroy this city.<br />
People will whistle and shake their heads<br />
when they pass by Jerusalem. They will be<br />
shocked when they see how the city was<br />
destroyed. 9The enemy will bring its army<br />
around the city. That army will not let people<br />
go out to get food. So the people in the city<br />
will begin to starve. They will become so<br />
hungry that they will eat the bodies of their<br />
own sons and daughters. And then they will<br />
begin to eat each other.’<br />
10“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you will tell those things to<br />
the people. And while they are watching, you<br />
will break that jar. 11At that time, say these<br />
things: ‘The Lord All-Powerful says, I will<br />
break the nation of Judah and the city of<br />
Jerusalem just like someone breaking a clay<br />
jar! This jar can’t be put back together again.<br />
It will be the same for the nation of Judah.<br />
The dead people will be buried here in<br />
Topheth until there is no more room. 12I will<br />
do this to these people and to this place. I will<br />
make this city like Topheth.’ This message is<br />
from the Lord. 13‘The houses in Jerusalem<br />
will become as “dirty” as this place, Topheth.<br />
The kings’ palaces* will be ruined like this<br />
place, Topheth. Why? Because the people<br />
worshiped false gods on the roofs of those<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
Slaughter Usually, this word means to kill an animal and cut it<br />
into pieces of meat. But it often means to kill people like they<br />
are animals.<br />
palace(s) A large house for the king and his family.<br />
885 JEREMIAH 19:6–20:5<br />
houses.* They worshiped the stars and burned<br />
sacrifices to honor them. They gave drink<br />
offerings to false gods.’”<br />
14Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> left Topheth where the<br />
Lord had told him to preach. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> went to<br />
the Lord’s temple* and stood in the<br />
courtyard* of the temple. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to all<br />
the people: 15“This is what the Lord All-<br />
Powerful, the God of Israel says: ‘I said I<br />
would bring many disasters to Jerusalem and<br />
the villages around it. I will soon make those<br />
things happen. Why? Because the people are<br />
very stubborn—they refused to listen and<br />
obey me.’”<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> and Pashhur<br />
A man named Pashhur was a priest. He<br />
20was the highest officer in the temple*<br />
of the Lord. Pashhur was the son of a man<br />
named Immer. Pashhur heard <strong>Jeremiah</strong> preach<br />
those things in the temple yard. 2So he had<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet beaten. And he had<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s hands and feet locked between<br />
large blocks of wood. This was at the Upper<br />
Gate of Benjamin of the temple. 3The next<br />
day Pashhur took <strong>Jeremiah</strong> out from between<br />
the blocks of wood. Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to<br />
Pashhur, “The Lord’s name for you is not<br />
Pashhur. Now the Lord’s name for you is<br />
Terror on Every Side. 4That is your name,<br />
because the Lord says: ‘I will soon make you<br />
a terror to yourself! I will soon make you a<br />
terror to all your friends. You will watch<br />
enemies killing your friends with swords. I<br />
will give all the people of Judah to the king of<br />
Babylon. He will take the people of Judah<br />
away to the country of Babylon. And his army<br />
will kill the people of Judah with their<br />
swords. 5The people of Jerusalem worked<br />
hard to build things and become wealthy. But<br />
I will give all those things to their enemies.<br />
The king in Jerusalem has many treasures.<br />
But I will give all those treasures to the<br />
enemy. The enemy will take those things and<br />
carry them away to the country of Babylon.<br />
roofs of those houses People built their house with a flat roof,<br />
and they used the roof like an extra room.<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
courtyard The large area around the temple sanctuary.
JEREMIAH 20:6–18<br />
886<br />
6And Pashhur, you and all the people living in 11 But the Lord is with me.<br />
your house will be taken away. You will be<br />
forced to go and live in the country of<br />
Babylon. You will die in Babylon. And you<br />
will be buried in that foreign country. You<br />
preached lies to your friends. {You said these<br />
things would not happen.} But all of your<br />
friends will also die and be buried in<br />
Babylon.’”<br />
The Lord is like a strong soldier.<br />
So the people that are chasing me will fall.<br />
Those people will not defeat me.<br />
Those people will fail.<br />
They will be disappointed.<br />
Those people will be ashamed.<br />
And people will never forget that shame.<br />
12 Lord All-Powerful, you test good people.<br />
You look deeply into a person’s mind.<br />
I told you my arguments<br />
against those people.<br />
So let me see you give them<br />
the punishment that they deserve.<br />
13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord!<br />
The Lord saves the lives of poor people!<br />
He saves them from wicked people!<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Fifth Complaint<br />
7 Lord, you tricked me,<br />
and I certainly was fooled.<br />
You are stronger than I am,<br />
so you won.<br />
I have become a joke.<br />
People laugh at me<br />
and make fun of me all day long.<br />
8 Every time I speak, I shout.<br />
I am always shouting about<br />
violence and destruction.<br />
I tell the people about the message<br />
that I received from the Lord.<br />
But people only insult me<br />
and make fun of me.<br />
9 Sometimes I say to myself,<br />
“I will forget about the Lord.<br />
I will not speak any more<br />
in the name of the Lord!”<br />
But when I say that,<br />
then the Lord’s message is like a fire<br />
burning inside of me!<br />
It feels like it is burning<br />
deep in my bones!<br />
I get tired of trying to hold<br />
the Lord’s message inside of me.<br />
And finally, I am not able to hold it in.<br />
10 I hear people whispering against me.<br />
Everywhere, I hear things that scare me.<br />
Even my friends are saying things<br />
against me.<br />
People are just waiting for me<br />
to make some mistake.<br />
They are saying,<br />
“Let us lie and say he did some bad thing.<br />
Maybe we can trick <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
Then we will have him.<br />
We will finally be rid of him.<br />
Then we will grab him<br />
and take our revenge on him.”<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Sixth Complaint<br />
14 Curse the day that I was born!<br />
Don’t bless the day my mother had me.<br />
15 Curse the man that told my father<br />
the news that I was born.<br />
“You have a son,” he said.<br />
“It is a boy!”<br />
He made my father very happy<br />
when he told him that news.<br />
16 Let that man be the same as<br />
the cities that the Lord destroyed.*<br />
The Lord did not have any pity<br />
on those cities.<br />
Let that man hear shouts of war<br />
in the morning.<br />
And let him hear battle cries<br />
at noontime.<br />
17 Why? Because that man did not kill me<br />
while I was in my mother’s body.<br />
If he had killed me at that time,<br />
my mother would have been my grave,<br />
and I would never have been born.<br />
18 Why did I have to come out of the body?<br />
All I have seen is trouble and sorrow.<br />
And my life will end in shame.<br />
cities that the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. See<br />
Gen. 19.
887 JEREMIAH 21:1–13<br />
God Rejects King Zedekiah’s Request<br />
This is the message that came to<br />
21<strong>Jeremiah</strong> from the Lord. This was when<br />
Zedekiah, the king of Judah, sent a man<br />
named Pashhur and a priest named Zephaniah<br />
to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. Pashhur* was the son of a man<br />
named Malkijah. Zephaniah was the son of a<br />
man named Maaseiah. Pashhur and<br />
Zephaniah brought a message for <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
2Pashhur and Zephaniah said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
“Pray to the Lord for us. Ask the Lord what<br />
will happen. We want to know, because<br />
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, is<br />
attacking us. Maybe the Lord will do great<br />
things for us, like he did in the past. Maybe<br />
the Lord will make Nebuchadnezzar stop<br />
attacking us and leave.”<br />
3Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> answered Pashhur and<br />
Zephaniah. He said, “Tell King Zedekiah:<br />
4This is what the Lord, the God of Israel,<br />
says: ‘You have weapons of war in your<br />
hands. You are using those weapons to defend<br />
yourselves against the king of Babylon and<br />
the Babylonians.* But I will make those<br />
weapons worthless.<br />
“‘The army from Babylon is outside the<br />
wall around the city. That army is all around<br />
the city. Soon I will bring that army into<br />
Jerusalem. 5I myself will fight against you<br />
people of Judah. I will fight against you with<br />
my own powerful hand. I am very angry with<br />
you, so I will fight against you with my own<br />
powerful arm. I will fight very hard against<br />
you and show how angry I am. 6I will kill the<br />
people living in Jerusalem. I will kill people<br />
and animals. They will die from terrible<br />
sicknesses that will spread all through the<br />
city. 7After<br />
killed with swords. Some of them will not die<br />
from hunger. But I will give those people to<br />
Nebuchadnezzar. I will let Judah’s enemy<br />
win. Nebuchadnezzar’s army wants to kill the<br />
people of Judah. So the people of Judah and<br />
Jerusalem will be killed with swords.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar will not show any mercy. He<br />
will not feel sorry for those people.’<br />
8“Also tell these things to the people of<br />
Jerusalem. The Lord says these things:<br />
‘Understand that I will let you choose to live<br />
or die.<br />
that happens,’” this message is<br />
from the Lord, “‘I will give Zedekiah king of<br />
Judah to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I<br />
will also give Zedekiah’s officials to<br />
Nebuchadnezzar. Some of the people in<br />
Jerusalem will not die from the terrible<br />
sicknesses. Some of the people will not be<br />
9Any person that stays in Jerusalem<br />
will die. That person will die by a sword, or<br />
from hunger, or from a terrible sickness. But<br />
any person that goes out of Jerusalem and<br />
surrenders to the Babylonian army will live!<br />
That army has surrounded the city. So no<br />
person can bring food into the city. But any<br />
person that leaves the city will save his life.<br />
10I have decided to make trouble for the city<br />
of Jerusalem. I will not help the city.’” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “‘I will give the<br />
city of Jerusalem to the king of Babylon. He<br />
will burn it with fire.’<br />
11<br />
12<br />
13<br />
“Tell these things to Judah’s royal family:<br />
Listen to the message from the Lord.<br />
Family of David,*<br />
the Lord says these things:<br />
‘You must judge people fairly every day.<br />
Protect the victims* from the criminals.<br />
If you don’t do that,<br />
then I will become very angry.<br />
My anger will be like a fire<br />
that no person will be able to put out.<br />
This will happen because you<br />
have done evil things.’<br />
“Jerusalem, I am against you.<br />
You sit on top of the mountain.<br />
You sit like a queen over this valley.<br />
You people of Jerusalem say,<br />
‘No person can attack us.<br />
No person can come into our strong city.’<br />
But listen to this message from the Lord.<br />
Pashhur This is not the same Pashhur as the man in Jer. 20:1.<br />
Babylonians The Babylonians were the family group to which<br />
King Nebuchadnezzar belonged. They were the group that<br />
controlled the land of Babylon at this time.<br />
Family of David The royal family of Judah. God promised that<br />
men from David’s family would be kings in Judah.<br />
victims People that have suffered some kind of hurt or trouble.<br />
Often this means people that were hurt or lost something<br />
during a crime.
JEREMIAH 21:14–22:13<br />
14 ‘You will get the punishment you deserve.<br />
I will start a fire in your forests.<br />
That fire will completely burn everything<br />
around you.’”<br />
Judgment Against Evil Kings<br />
The Lord said: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go down to<br />
22the king’s palace. Go to the king of<br />
Judah and preach this message there: 2‘Listen<br />
to the message from the Lord, King of Judah.<br />
You rule from David’s throne, so listen. King,<br />
you and your officials must listen well. All of<br />
your people that come through the gates of<br />
Jerusalem must listen to the message from the<br />
Lord. 3The Lord says: Do the things that are<br />
fair and right. Protect the person that has been<br />
robbed from the person that robbed him.<br />
Don’t hurt or do anything wrong to orphans*<br />
or widows.* Don’t kill innocent people. 4If<br />
you obey these commands, then this is what<br />
will happen: kings that sit on David’s throne<br />
will continue to come through the gates into<br />
the city of Jerusalem. Those kings will come<br />
through the gates with their officials. Those<br />
kings, their officials, and their people will<br />
come riding in chariots* and on horses. 5But if<br />
you don’t obey these commands, this is what<br />
the Lord says: I, the Lord, promise that this<br />
king’s palace* will be destroyed—it will<br />
become a pile of rocks.’”<br />
6This is what the Lord says about the palace<br />
where the king of Judah lives:<br />
“The palace* is tall,<br />
like the forests of Gilead.<br />
The palace is tall<br />
like the mountains of Lebanon.<br />
But I will make it like a desert.<br />
This palace will be empty<br />
like a city where no person lives.<br />
7 I will send men to destroy the palace.<br />
Each man will have weapons<br />
that he will use to destroy that house.<br />
orphan(s) Children whose parents are dead. Often these<br />
children have no one to care for them.<br />
widow(s) Women whose husbands have died. Often these<br />
women had no one to care for them.<br />
chariot(s) A small wagon used in war.<br />
palace A large house for the king and his family.<br />
888<br />
Those men will cut up your strong,<br />
beautiful cedar beams.<br />
Those men will throw those beams<br />
into the fire.”<br />
8“People from many nations will pass by<br />
this city. They will ask one another, ‘Why has<br />
the Lord done such a terrible thing to<br />
Jerusalem? Jerusalem was such a great city.’<br />
9This will be the answer to that question:<br />
‘God destroyed Jerusalem because the people<br />
of Judah quit following the Agreement* of the<br />
Lord their God. Those people worshiped and<br />
served other gods.’”<br />
Judgment Against King Jehoahaz<br />
10 Don’t cry for the king that has died.*<br />
Don’t cry for him.<br />
But cry very hard for the king<br />
that must leave this place.*<br />
Cry for him<br />
because he will never come back again.<br />
Jehoahaz will never see his homeland again.<br />
11This is what the Lord says about Shallum<br />
(Jehoahaz) son of Josiah. (Shallum became<br />
king of Judah after his father Josiah died.)<br />
“Jehoahaz has gone away from Jerusalem. He<br />
will never come back to Jerusalem again.<br />
12Jehoahaz will die in the place where the<br />
Egyptians have taken him. He will not see this<br />
land again.”<br />
Judgment Against King Jehoiakim<br />
13 It will be very bad for King Jehoiakim.<br />
He is doing bad things<br />
so he can build his palace.*<br />
He is cheating people<br />
so he can build rooms upstairs.<br />
He is making his own people<br />
work for nothing.<br />
He is not paying them for their work.<br />
Agreement Literally, “Proof.” The flat stones with the Ten<br />
Commandments written on them were proof of the Agreement<br />
between God and Israel.<br />
king that has died This means King Josiah that was killed in<br />
battle against the Egyptians in 609 B.C.<br />
king … place This means Josiah’s son, Jehoahaz. He became<br />
king after Josiah died. He is also called Shallum. Neco, the<br />
king of Egypt, defeated Josiah. And Neco took Jehoahaz off<br />
the throne of Judah and made him a prisoner in Egypt.
14 Jehoiakim says,<br />
‘I will build a great palace for myself.<br />
I will have large upper rooms.’<br />
So he builds the house with<br />
large windows.<br />
He uses cedar word for paneling,<br />
and he paints it red.<br />
15 “Jehoiakim,<br />
having a lot of cedar in your house<br />
does not make you a great king.<br />
Your father Josiah was satisfied<br />
to have food and drink.<br />
He did what was right and fair.<br />
Josiah did that,<br />
so everything went well for him.<br />
16 Josiah helped the poor and needy people.<br />
Josiah did that,<br />
so everything went well for him.<br />
Jehoiakim, what does it mean<br />
“to know God?”<br />
It means living right and being fair.<br />
That is what it means to know me.<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
17 “Jehoiakim, your eyes look<br />
only for what benefits yourself.<br />
You are always thinking about<br />
getting more for yourself.<br />
You are willing to kill innocent people.<br />
You are willing to steal things<br />
from other people.”<br />
18 So this is what the Lord says<br />
to King Jehoiakim son of Josiah:<br />
“The people of Judah will not cry<br />
for Jehoiakim.<br />
They will not say to each another,<br />
‘Oh, my brother,<br />
{I am so sad about Jehoiakim}!<br />
Oh, my sister,<br />
{I am so sad about Jehoiakim}!’<br />
The people of Judah will not cry<br />
for Jehoiakim.<br />
They will not say about him,<br />
‘Oh, master, {I am so sad}!<br />
Oh, King, {I am so sad}!’<br />
19 The people of Jerusalem will bury<br />
Jehoiakim<br />
like they were burying a donkey.<br />
889 JEREMIAH 22:14–24<br />
They will just drag his body away<br />
and throw it outside the gates<br />
of Jerusalem.<br />
20 “Judah, go up to the mountains of Lebanon<br />
and cry out.<br />
Let your voice be heard<br />
in the mountains of Bashan.<br />
Cry out in the mountains of Abarim.<br />
Why? Because your ‘lovers’<br />
will all be destroyed.<br />
21 Judah, you felt safe.<br />
But I warned you!<br />
I warned you,<br />
but you refused to listen.<br />
You have lived like this<br />
from the time you were young.<br />
And from the time you were young,<br />
you have not obeyed me, Judah.<br />
22 Judah, the punishment I give<br />
will come like a storm.<br />
And it will blow all your shepherds away.<br />
You thought some of the other nations<br />
would help you.<br />
But those nations will also be defeated.<br />
Then you will really be disappointed.<br />
You will be ashamed of all the bad things<br />
that you did.<br />
23 King, you live high on the mountain<br />
in your house made from cedar wood.<br />
It is almost like you live in Lebanon<br />
where that wood came from.<br />
{You think you are safe,<br />
high on the mountain in your big house.}<br />
But you will really groan<br />
when your punishment comes.<br />
You will hurt like a woman<br />
giving birth to a baby.”<br />
Judgment Against King Jehoiachin<br />
24“As surely as I live,” this message is from<br />
the Lord, “I will do this to you, Jehoiachin son<br />
of Jehoiakim, king of Judah: Even if you were a<br />
signet ring* on my right hand, I would still pull<br />
signet ring A special ring worn by a king. The design on the<br />
ring could be pressed into a bit of clay or warm wax and leave<br />
an impression of the design. This was like a person’s<br />
signature—so the ring was very important.
JEREMIAH 22:25–23:10 890<br />
you off. 25Jehoiachin, I will give you to<br />
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, and the<br />
Babylonians. Those are the people you are<br />
afraid of. Those people want to kill you. 26I will<br />
throw you and your mother into another country<br />
where neither of you was born. You and your<br />
mother will die in that country. 27Jehoiachin,<br />
you will want to come back to your land—but<br />
you will never be allowed to come back.”<br />
28<br />
29<br />
Coniah (Jehoiachin) is like a broken pot<br />
that some person threw away.<br />
He is like a pot that no person wants.<br />
Why will Jehoiachin and his children<br />
be thrown out?<br />
Why will they be thrown away<br />
into a foreign land?<br />
Land, land, land of Judah!<br />
Listen to the message of the Lord!<br />
30 The Lord says,<br />
“Write this down about Jehoiachin:<br />
‘He is a man that has no children<br />
anymore!<br />
Jehoiachin will not be successful<br />
in his lifetime.<br />
And none of his children<br />
will sit on the throne of David.<br />
None of his children<br />
will rule in Judah.’”<br />
“It will be very bad for the shepherds<br />
23 (leaders) of the people of Judah. Those<br />
shepherds are destroying the sheep. They are<br />
making the sheep run from my pasture in all<br />
directions.” This message is from the Lord.<br />
2Those shepherds (leaders) are responsible<br />
for my people. And the Lord, the God of<br />
Israel, says these things to those shepherds:<br />
“You shepherds (leaders) have made my<br />
sheep run away in all directions. You have<br />
forced them to go away. And you have not<br />
taken care of them. But I will take care of<br />
you—I will punish you for the bad things you<br />
did.” This message is from the Lord: 3“I sent<br />
my sheep (people) to other countries. But I<br />
will gather together my sheep that are left.<br />
And I will bring them back to their pasture<br />
(country). When my sheep are back in their<br />
pasture, they will have many children and<br />
grow in number. 4I<br />
(leaders) over my sheep. Those shepherds<br />
will take care of my sheep. And my sheep<br />
will not be scared or afraid. None of my sheep<br />
will be lost.” This message is from the Lord.<br />
The Righteous “Sprout”<br />
5 This message is from the Lord,<br />
“The time is coming,”<br />
“when I will raise up a good ‘sprout.’*<br />
6<br />
He will be a king<br />
who will rule in a wise way.<br />
He will do what is fair and right<br />
in the land.<br />
In the time of that good ‘sprout,’<br />
the people of Judah will be saved.<br />
And Israel will live in safety.<br />
This will be his name:<br />
The Lord is our Goodness.*<br />
7“So the time is coming,” this message is<br />
from the Lord, “when people won’t say the<br />
old promise by the Lord any more. The old<br />
promise is: ‘As surely as the Lord lives, the<br />
Lord is the One who brought the people of<br />
Israel out of the land of Egypt.’<br />
will place new shepherds<br />
8But people<br />
will say something new. They will say, ‘As<br />
surely as the Lord lives, the Lord is the One<br />
who brought the people of Israel out of the<br />
land of the north. He brought them out of all<br />
the countries where he had sent them.’ Then<br />
the people of Israel will live in their own<br />
land.”<br />
9<br />
10<br />
Judgments Against False Prophets<br />
A message to the prophets:<br />
I am very sad—my heart is broken.<br />
All my bones are shaking.<br />
I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) am like a man that is drunk.<br />
Why? Because of the Lord<br />
and his holy words.<br />
The land of Judah is full of people that do<br />
the sin of adultery.*<br />
They are unfaithful in many ways.<br />
sprout This means a new king from the family of David.<br />
The Lord is our Goodness This is a word play. In Hebrew, this<br />
is like the name Zedekiah, the king of Judah at the time that<br />
this prophecy was probably given. But <strong>Jeremiah</strong> is talking<br />
about another king.<br />
adultery Breaking the marriage promise by sexual sin.
The Lord cursed the land,<br />
and it became very dry.<br />
The plants are dried and dying<br />
in the pastures.<br />
The fields have become like the desert.<br />
The prophets are evil.<br />
Those prophets use their influence<br />
and power in the wrong way.<br />
11 “The prophets and even the priests are evil.<br />
I have seen them doing evil things<br />
in my own temple.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
12 “{I will stop giving my messages to them.}<br />
It will be like they must walk<br />
in darkness.<br />
It will be like the road is slippery<br />
for those prophets and priests.<br />
And they will fall in that darkness.<br />
I will bring disaster on them.<br />
I will punish those prophets and priests.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
13 “I saw the prophets of Samaria*<br />
doing wrong things.<br />
I saw those prophets prophesy*<br />
in the name of the false god Baal.*<br />
Those prophets led the people of Israel<br />
away from the Lord.<br />
14 Now I have seen the prophets of Judah<br />
do those terrible things in Jerusalem.<br />
These prophets do the sin of adultery.*<br />
They listened to lies—and they obeyed<br />
those false teachings.<br />
They encourage wicked people<br />
to continue doing evil things.<br />
So the people did not stop sinning.<br />
They are like the people of Sodom*.<br />
Now Jerusalem is like Gomorrah* to me.”<br />
15 So, this is what the Lord All-Powerful says<br />
about the prophets:<br />
Samaria The capital of the northern kingdom of Israel. This<br />
kingdom was destroyed by God because its people did many<br />
bad things.<br />
prophesy To speak for God or for a false god.<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
adultery Breaking the marriage promise by sexual sin.<br />
Sodom, Gomorrah Two cities that God destroyed because the<br />
people were so evil. See Gen. 19.<br />
891 JEREMIAH 23:11–20<br />
“I will punish those prophets.<br />
The punishment will be<br />
like eating poisoned food and water.<br />
The prophets started a spiritual sickness.<br />
And that sickness spread through<br />
the whole country.<br />
So I will punish those prophets.<br />
That sickness came from the prophets<br />
in Jerusalem.”<br />
16 The Lord All-Powerful says these things:<br />
“Don’t pay attention to the things<br />
that those prophets are saying to you.<br />
They are trying to fool you.<br />
Those prophets talk about visions.*<br />
But they did not get their visions<br />
from me.<br />
Their visions come from their own minds.<br />
17 Some of the people hate<br />
the real messages from the Lord.<br />
So those prophets give a different message<br />
to those people.<br />
They say,<br />
‘You will have peace.’<br />
Some of the people are very stubborn.<br />
They do only the things they want to do.<br />
So those prophets say,<br />
‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’<br />
18 But none of those prophets<br />
has stood in the heavenly council.*<br />
None of them has seen or heard<br />
the message of the Lord.<br />
None of them has paid close attention<br />
to the Lord’s message.<br />
19 Now the punishment from the Lord<br />
will come like a storm.<br />
The Lord’s anger will be like a tornado.<br />
It will come crashing down<br />
on the heads of those wicked people.<br />
20 The Lord’s anger will not stop<br />
until he finishes what he plans to do.<br />
When that day is over,<br />
you will understand this clearly.<br />
vision(s) Something like a dream that God used to speak to<br />
people.<br />
heavenly council The people in the Old Testament often talk<br />
about God like he was the leader of a council of heavenly<br />
beings (angels). Compare 1 Kings 22:19-23; Isa. 6:1-8; and<br />
Job chapters 1 and 2.
JEREMIAH 23:21–40<br />
21 I did not send those prophets.<br />
But they ran {to tell their messages}.<br />
I did not speak to them.<br />
But they preached in my name.<br />
22 If they had stood in my heavenly council,<br />
then they would have told my messages<br />
to the people of Judah.<br />
They would have stopped the people<br />
from doing bad things.<br />
They would have stopped them<br />
from doing evil.”<br />
23 “I am God, and I am always near!”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“I am not far away!<br />
24 A person might try to hide from me<br />
in some hiding place.<br />
But it is easy for me to see him.<br />
Why? Because I am everywhere<br />
in heaven and earth!”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
25“There are prophets that preach lies in my<br />
name. They say, ‘I have had a dream! I have<br />
had a dream!’ I heard them say those things.<br />
26How long will this continue? Those<br />
prophets think up lies. And then they teach<br />
those lies to the people. 27These prophets are<br />
trying to make the people of Judah forget my<br />
name. They are doing this by telling each<br />
other these false dreams. They are trying to<br />
make my people forget me in the same way<br />
that their ancestors* forgot me. Their<br />
ancestors forgot me and worshiped the false<br />
god Baal.* 28Straw is not the same thing as<br />
wheat! In the same way, those prophets’<br />
dreams are not messages from me. If a person<br />
wants to tell about his dreams, then let him.<br />
But let the man that hears my message speak<br />
my message truthfully. 29My message is like a<br />
fire.” This message is from the Lord. “It is like<br />
a hammer that smashes a rock.<br />
30“So I am against the false prophets.” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “These prophets<br />
keep stealing my words from one another. 31I<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
892<br />
am against the false prophets.” This message is<br />
from the Lord. “They use their own words and<br />
pretend that it is a message from me. 32I am<br />
against the false prophets that preach fake<br />
dreams.” This message is from the Lord. “They<br />
mislead my people with their lies and false<br />
teachings. I did not send those prophets to<br />
teach the people. I never commanded them to<br />
do anything for me. They can’t help the people<br />
of Judah at all.” This message is from the Lord.<br />
The Sad Message from the Lord<br />
33“The people of Judah, or a prophet, or a<br />
priest may ask you, ‘<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, what is the<br />
announcement of the Lord?’ You will answer<br />
them and say, ‘You are a heavy load* to the<br />
Lord. And I will throw down this heavy load.’<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
34“A prophet, or a priest, or maybe one of the<br />
people might say, ‘This is an announcement<br />
from the Lord …’ {That person lied,} so I will<br />
punish that person and his whole family. 35This<br />
is what you will say to one another: ‘What did<br />
the Lord answer?’ or ‘What did the Lord say?’<br />
36But you will never again use the expression,<br />
‘The announcement (heavy load) of the Lord.’<br />
This is because the Lord’s message should not<br />
be a heavy load for anyone. But you changed<br />
the words of our God. He is the living God, the<br />
Lord All-Powerful!<br />
37“If you want to learn about God’s message,<br />
then ask a prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord<br />
give you?’ or ‘What did the Lord say?’ 38But<br />
don’t say, ‘What was the announcement (heavy<br />
load) from the Lord?’ If you use these words,<br />
then the Lord will say these things to you: ‘You<br />
should not have called my message an<br />
‘announcement (heavy load) from the Lord.’ I<br />
told you not to use those words. 39But you<br />
called my message a heavy load, so I will pick<br />
you up like a heavy load and throw you away<br />
from me. I gave the city of Jerusalem to your<br />
ancestors.* But I will throw you and that city<br />
away from me. 40And I will make you a<br />
disgrace forever. You will never forget your<br />
embarrassment.’”<br />
heavy load This is a word play. The Hebrew word for<br />
“announcement” is like the word translated “heavy load.”
893 JEREMIAH 24:1–25:9<br />
The Good Figs and the Bad Figs<br />
The Lord showed me these things: I<br />
24 saw two baskets of figs arranged in<br />
front of the temple* of the Lord. (I saw this<br />
vision after Nebuchadnezzar, the king of<br />
Babylon, took Jeconiah* as a prisoner.<br />
Jeconiah was the son of King Jehoiakim.<br />
Jeconiah and his important officials were<br />
taken away from Jerusalem. They were taken<br />
to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took away<br />
all the carpenters and metal-workers of<br />
Judah.) 2One basket had very good figs in it.<br />
Those figs were like figs that ripen early in the<br />
season. But the other basket had rotten figs.<br />
They were too rotten to eat.<br />
3The Lord said to me, “What do you see,<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>?” I answered, “I see figs. The good<br />
figs are very good. And the rotten figs are<br />
very rotten. They are too rotten to eat.”<br />
4Then the message of the Lord came to me.<br />
5The Lord, the God of Israel, said: “The<br />
people of Judah were taken from their<br />
country. Their enemy brought them to<br />
Babylon. Those people will be like these good<br />
figs. I will be kind to those people. 6I will<br />
protect them. I will bring them back to the<br />
land of Judah. I will not tear them down—I<br />
will build them up. I will not pull them up—I<br />
will plant them so they can grow. 7I<br />
10I will send a sword, starvation, and disease<br />
against them. I will attack them until they have<br />
all been killed. Then they will no longer be on<br />
the land which I gave to them and to their<br />
ancestors.*<br />
A Summary of <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Preaching<br />
This is the message that came to<br />
25<strong>Jeremiah</strong> concerning all of the people of<br />
Judah. This message came in the fourth year*<br />
that Jehoiakim was king of Judah. Jehoiakim<br />
was the son of Josiah. The fourth year of his<br />
time as king was the first year that<br />
Nebuchadnezzar was king of Babylon.<br />
will make<br />
them want to know me. They will know that I<br />
am the Lord. They will be my people, and I<br />
will be their God. I will do this because those<br />
prisoners in Babylon will turn to me with<br />
their whole hearts.<br />
8“But Zedekiah king of Judah will be like<br />
those figs that are too rotten to eat. Zedekiah,<br />
his high officials, all the people that are left in<br />
Jerusalem, and those people of Judah that are<br />
living in Egypt will be like those rotten figs.<br />
9“I will punish those people. The punishment<br />
will shock all the people on earth. People will<br />
make fun of those people from Judah. People<br />
will tell jokes about them. People will curse<br />
them in all the places where I scatter them.<br />
2This is<br />
the message that <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet spoke to<br />
all the people of Judah and all the people of<br />
Jerusalem:<br />
3I have given you messages from the Lord<br />
again and again for these past 23 years. I have<br />
been a prophet since the 13th year that Josiah<br />
son of Amon was the king of Judah. I have<br />
spoken messages from the Lord to you from<br />
that time until today. But you have not<br />
listened. 4The Lord has sent his servants, the<br />
prophets, to you over and over again. But you<br />
have not listened to them. You have not paid<br />
any attention to them.<br />
5Those prophets said, “Change your lives!<br />
Stop doing those bad things! If you change,<br />
then you can return to the land which the Lord<br />
gave you and your ancestors* long ago. He<br />
gave you this land to live in forever. 6Don’t<br />
follow other gods. Don’t serve or worship<br />
them. Don’t worship idols that some person<br />
has made. That only makes me angry at you.<br />
Doing this only hurts yourselves.”*<br />
7“But you did not listen to me.” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “You worshiped<br />
idols that some person made. And that made<br />
me angry. And that only hurt you.”<br />
8So, this is what the Lord All-Powerful says,<br />
“You have not listened to my messages. 9So I<br />
will soon send for all the family groups of the<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
Jeconiah This is another name for King Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin<br />
was taken prisoner in the year 597 B.C.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
fourth year This was the year 605 B.C.<br />
Doing this only hurts yourselves Following the ancient Greek<br />
translation. The Hebrew reads, “Then I will not hurt you.”
JEREMIAH 25:10–29<br />
894<br />
north.*” This message is from the Lord. “I will<br />
soon send for Nebuchadnezzar king of<br />
Babylon. He is my servant. I will bring those<br />
people against the land of Judah and against the<br />
people of Judah. I will bring them against all<br />
the nations around you too. I will destroy all of<br />
those countries. I will make those lands like an<br />
empty desert forever. People will see those<br />
countries, and whistle at how badly they were<br />
destroyed. 10I will bring an end to the sounds of<br />
joy and happiness in those places. There will be<br />
no more happy sounds of the brides and<br />
bridegrooms. I will take away the sound of<br />
people grinding meal. I will take away the light<br />
of the lamp. 11That whole area will be an empty<br />
desert. All of those people will be slaves of the<br />
king of Babylon for 70 years.<br />
12“But when the 70 years have passed, I<br />
will punish the king of Babylon. I will punish<br />
the nation of Babylon.” This message is from<br />
the Lord. “I will punish the land of the<br />
Babylonians for their sins. I will make that<br />
land a desert forever. 13I have said many bad<br />
things will happen to Babylon. All of those<br />
things will happen. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> preached about<br />
those foreign nations. And all of those<br />
warnings are written in this book. 14Yes, the<br />
people of Babylon will have to serve many<br />
nations and many great kings. I will give them<br />
the punishment they deserve for all the things<br />
they will do.”<br />
Judgment on the Nations of the World<br />
15The Lord, the God of Israel, said these<br />
things to me: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, take this cup of wine<br />
from my hand. It is the wine of my anger. I am<br />
sending you to different nations. Make all<br />
those nations drink from this cup. 16They will<br />
drink this wine. Then they will vomit and act<br />
like crazy people. They will do this because of<br />
the sword that I will soon send against them.”<br />
17So I took the cup of wine from the Lord’s<br />
hand. I went to those nations and I made those<br />
people drink from the cup. 18I<br />
from the cup. I did this so that they would<br />
become an empty desert. I did this so that<br />
place would be destroyed so badly that people<br />
would whistle about it and say curses about<br />
that place. And it happened—Judah is like<br />
that now!<br />
19I also made Pharaoh king of Egypt drink<br />
from the cup. I made his officials, his important<br />
leaders, and all his people drink from the cup<br />
of the Lord’s anger.<br />
20I also made all the Arabs and all of the<br />
kings of the land of Uz drink from the cup.<br />
I also made all the kings of the land of the<br />
Philistines drink from the cup. These were the<br />
kings of the cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron,<br />
and what remains of the city Ashdod.<br />
21Then I made the people of Edom, Moab,<br />
and Ammon drink from the cup.<br />
22I made all the kings of Tyre and Sidon<br />
drink from the cup.<br />
I also made all the kings of the faraway<br />
countries drink from that cup.<br />
poured this<br />
wine for the people of Jerusalem and Judah. I<br />
made the kings and leaders of Judah drink<br />
23I made the<br />
people of Dedan, Tema, and Buz drink from<br />
the cup. I made all those that cut their hair at<br />
their temples drink from the cup. 24I made all<br />
the kings of Arabia drink from the cup. These<br />
kings live in the desert. 25I made all the kings<br />
from Zimri, Elam, and Media drink from the<br />
cup. 26I made all the kings of the north, those<br />
that were near and far, drink from the cup. I<br />
made them drink one after the other. I made<br />
all the kingdoms that are on earth drink from<br />
the cup of the anger of the Lord. But the king<br />
of Babylon will drink from this cup after all<br />
of these other nations.<br />
27“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, say to those nations, this is<br />
what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the<br />
people of Israel, says, ‘Drink this cup of my<br />
anger. Get drunk from it and vomit! Fall<br />
down and don’t get up. Don’t get up because I<br />
am sending a sword to kill you.’<br />
28“Those people will refuse to take the cup<br />
from your hand. They will refuse to drink it.<br />
But you will say to them, ‘The Lord All-<br />
Powerful says these things: You will indeed<br />
drink from this cup! 29I am already making<br />
these bad things happen to Jerusalem, the city<br />
that is called by my name. Maybe you people<br />
think that you will not be punished. But you<br />
are wrong. You will be punished. I am calling<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.
out a sword to attack all the people of the<br />
earth.’” This message is from the Lord.<br />
30 “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you will give them this message:<br />
‘The Lord shouts from above.<br />
He shouts from his holy temple!<br />
The Lord shouts at his pasture (people)!<br />
His shouts are loud like the songs of<br />
people walking on grapes<br />
to make wine.<br />
31 The noise spreads to all the people on earth.<br />
What is all the noise about?<br />
The Lord is punishing the people<br />
from all the nations.<br />
The Lord told his arguments<br />
against the people.<br />
He judged the people.<br />
And now he is killing the evil people<br />
with a sword.’”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
32 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“Disasters will soon spread<br />
from country to country.<br />
They will come like a powerful storm<br />
to all the faraway places on earth!”<br />
33The dead bodies of those people will<br />
reach from one end of the country to the<br />
other. No person will cry for those dead<br />
people. No person will gather up their bodies<br />
and bury them. They will be left lying on the<br />
ground like dung.<br />
34 Shepherds (leaders), you should be leading<br />
the sheep (people).<br />
Start crying you great leaders!<br />
Roll around on the ground in pain,<br />
you leaders of the sheep (people).<br />
Why? Because it is now time<br />
for your slaughter.*<br />
{I will scatter your sheep.}<br />
They will scatter everywhere,<br />
like pieces flying from a broken jar.<br />
35 There will be no place for the shepherds<br />
to hide.<br />
Those leaders will not escape.<br />
slaughter Usually, this means to kill an animal and cut it into<br />
pieces of meat. But it often means to kill people like they<br />
are animals.<br />
895 JEREMIAH 25:30–26:8<br />
36 I hear the shepherds (leaders) shouting.<br />
I hear the leaders of the sheep (people)<br />
crying.<br />
The Lord is destroying<br />
their pastures (country).<br />
37 Those peaceful pastures are like<br />
an empty desert.<br />
This happened because the Lord is angry.<br />
38 The Lord is like a dangerous lion<br />
leaving his cave.<br />
The Lord is angry!<br />
And that anger will hurt those people.<br />
Their country will be an empty desert.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Lesson at the Temple<br />
This message came from the Lord<br />
26during the first year that Jehoiakim was<br />
king* of Judah. Jehoiakim was the son of<br />
King Josiah. 2The Lord said: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, stand<br />
in the temple* yard of the Lord. Give this<br />
message to all the people of Judah that are<br />
coming to worship at the temple of the Lord.<br />
Tell them everything that I tell you to speak.<br />
Don’t leave out any part of my message.<br />
3Maybe they will listen and obey my<br />
message. Maybe they will stop living such<br />
evil lives. If they change, then I might change<br />
my mind about my plans to punish them. I am<br />
planning this punishment because of many<br />
bad things those people have done. 4You will<br />
say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I<br />
gave my teachings to you. You must obey me<br />
and follow my teachings. 5You must listen to<br />
the things my servants say to you. (The<br />
prophets are my servants.) I have sent<br />
prophets to you again and again, but you did<br />
not listen to them. 6If you don’t obey me, then<br />
I will make my temple in Jerusalem just like<br />
my Holy Tent at Shiloh.* People all over the<br />
world will think of Jerusalem when they ask<br />
for bad things to happen to other cities.’”<br />
7The priests, the prophets, and all the<br />
people heard <strong>Jeremiah</strong> say all of these words<br />
at the Lord’s temple.* 8<strong>Jeremiah</strong> finished<br />
first year that Jehoiakim was king This was 609 B.C.<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
my Holy Tent at Shiloh The holy place at Shiloh was probably<br />
destroyed during the time of Samuel. See Jer. 7 and 1 Sam. 4.
JEREMIAH 26:9–24<br />
896<br />
speaking everything the Lord had commanded<br />
him to say to the people. Then the priests, the<br />
prophets, and all the people grabbed <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
They said, “You will die for saying such<br />
terrible things! 9How dare you preach such a<br />
thing in the name of the Lord! How dare you<br />
say that this temple will be destroyed like the<br />
one at Shiloh! How dare you say that<br />
Jerusalem will become a desert with no people<br />
living in it!” All the people gathered around<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> in the temple of the Lord.<br />
10Now the rulers of Judah heard about all of<br />
the things that were happening. So they came<br />
out of the king’s palace. They went up to the<br />
Lord’s temple. There, they took their places at<br />
the entrance of the New Gate. The New Gate<br />
is a gate leading to the Lord’s temple. 11Then<br />
the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers<br />
and all the other people. They said, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
should be killed. He said bad things about<br />
Jerusalem. You heard him say those things.”<br />
12Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> spoke to all the rulers of<br />
Judah and all the other people. He said, “The<br />
Lord sent me to say these things about this<br />
temple and this city. Everything that you have<br />
heard is from the Lord. 13You people change<br />
your lives! You must start doing good things!<br />
You must obey the Lord your God. If you do<br />
that, then the Lord will change his mind. The<br />
Lord will not do the bad things he told you<br />
about. 14As for me, I am in your power. Do to<br />
me what you think is good and right. 15But if<br />
you kill me, be sure of one thing. You will be<br />
guilty of killing an innocent person. You will<br />
make this city and everyone that lives in it<br />
guilty, too. The Lord really did send me to you.<br />
The message you heard really is from the Lord.”<br />
16Then the rulers and all the people spoke.<br />
Those people said to the priests and the<br />
prophets, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong> must not be killed. The<br />
things <strong>Jeremiah</strong> told us come from the Lord<br />
our God.”<br />
17Then some of the elders (leaders) stood<br />
up and spoke to all the people. 18They<br />
The Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“Zion* will be destroyed.<br />
It will become a plowed field.<br />
Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks.<br />
Temple Mount will be an empty<br />
hill* overgrown with bushes.”<br />
Micah 3:12<br />
19“Hezekiah was the king of Judah. And<br />
Hezekiah didn’t kill Micah. None of the<br />
people of Judah killed Micah. You know that<br />
Hezekiah respected the Lord. He wanted to<br />
please the Lord. The Lord had said he would<br />
do bad things to Judah. But Hezekiah prayed<br />
to the Lord, and the Lord changed his mind.<br />
The Lord didn’t do those bad things. If we<br />
hurt <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, then we will bring many<br />
troubles on ourselves. And those troubles will<br />
be our own fault.”<br />
20In the past, there was another man that<br />
preached the Lord’s message. His name was<br />
Uriah. He was the son of a man named<br />
Shemaiah. Uriah was from the city of Kiriath<br />
Jearim. Uriah preached the same things<br />
against this city and this land as <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
did.<br />
said,<br />
“Micah the prophet was from the city of<br />
Moresheth. Micah was a prophet during the<br />
time that Hezekiah was king of Judah. Micah<br />
said these things to all the people of Judah:<br />
21King Jehoiakim and his army officers<br />
and the leaders of Judah heard Uriah preach.<br />
They became angry. King Jehoiakim wanted<br />
to kill Uriah. But Uriah heard that Jehoiakim<br />
wanted to kill him. Uriah was afraid, so he<br />
escaped to the land of Egypt. 22But King<br />
Jehoiakim sent a man named Elnathan and<br />
some other men to Egypt. Elnathan was the<br />
son of a man named Acbor. 23Those men<br />
brought Uriah from Egypt. Then those men<br />
took Uriah to King Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim<br />
ordered Uriah to be killed with a sword.<br />
Uriah’s body was thrown into the burial place<br />
where poor people are buried.<br />
24There was an important man named<br />
Ahikam son of Shaphan. Ahikam supported<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. So Ahikam kept <strong>Jeremiah</strong> from<br />
being killed by the priests and prophets.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
empty hill Or, “high place,” a term usually used for local shrines<br />
(places for worship) where people often worshiped idols.
The Lord Made Nebuchadnezzar Ruler<br />
A message from the Lord came to<br />
27<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. It came during the fourth<br />
year that Zedekiah was king of Judah.*<br />
Zedekiah was the son of King Josiah. 2This is<br />
what the Lord said to me: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, make a<br />
yoke* out of straps and poles. Put that yoke<br />
on the back of your neck. 3Then send<br />
messages to the kings of Edom, Moab,<br />
Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Send the messages<br />
with the messengers of these kings that have<br />
come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah king of<br />
Judah. 4Tell those messengers to give this<br />
message to their masters. Tell them, ‘The<br />
Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says:<br />
Tell your masters that 5I made the earth and<br />
all the people on it. I made all the animals on<br />
the earth. I did this with my great power and<br />
my strong arm. I can give the earth to anyone<br />
I want. 6Now I have given all your countries<br />
to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He is my<br />
servant. I will make even the wild animals<br />
obey him. 7All nations will serve<br />
Nebuchadnezzar and his son and his<br />
grandson. Then the time will come for<br />
Babylon to be defeated. Many nations and<br />
great kings will make Babylon their servant.<br />
8“‘But now, some nations or kingdoms<br />
might refuse to serve Nebuchadnezzar king<br />
of Babylon. They might refuse to put his<br />
yoke* on their necks. If that happens, this is<br />
what I will do: I will punish that nation with<br />
sword, hunger, and terrible sickness.’” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “I will do that until<br />
I destroy that nation. I will use<br />
Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the nation that<br />
fights against him. 9So don’t listen to your<br />
prophets. Don’t listen to the people that use<br />
magic to tell what will happen in the future.<br />
Don’t listen to people that say they can<br />
interpret dreams. Don’t listen to people that<br />
talk to the dead or to people that practice<br />
897 JEREMIAH 27:1–18<br />
magic. All those people tell you, “You will<br />
not be slaves to the king of Babylon.” 10But<br />
those people are telling you lies. They will<br />
only cause you to be taken far from your<br />
homeland. I will force you to leave your<br />
homes. And you will die in another land.<br />
11“‘But the nations that put their necks<br />
under the yoke* of the king of Babylon and<br />
obey him will live. I will let those nations stay<br />
in their own country and serve the king of<br />
Babylon.’” This message is from the Lord.<br />
“‘The people from those nations will live in<br />
their own land and farm it.<br />
12“‘I gave the same message to Zedekiah<br />
king of Judah. I said, “Zedekiah, you must<br />
place your neck under the yoke* of the king<br />
of Babylon and obey him. If you serve the<br />
king of Babylon and his people, then you will<br />
live. 13If you don’t agree to serve the king of<br />
Babylon, then you and your people will die<br />
from the enemy’s sword, from hunger, and<br />
from terrible sicknesses. The Lord said those<br />
things will happen. 14But the false prophets<br />
are saying: You will never be slaves to the<br />
king of Babylon.<br />
“‘Don’t listen to those prophets, because<br />
they are preaching lies to you. 15I didn’t send<br />
those prophets.’” This message is from the<br />
Lord. “They are preaching lies and saying that<br />
the message is from me. So, I will send you<br />
people of Judah away. You will die. And those<br />
prophets that preach to you will die also.”<br />
16Then I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) said to the priests and<br />
all those people, “The Lord says: Those false<br />
prophets are saying, ‘The Babylonians took<br />
many things from the Lord’s temple.* Those<br />
things will be brought back soon.’ Don’t<br />
listen to those prophets because they are<br />
preaching lies to you. 17Don’t listen to those<br />
prophets. Serve the king of Babylon. Accept<br />
your punishment, and you will live. There is<br />
no reason for you to cause this city of<br />
Jerusalem to be destroyed. 18If those men are<br />
prophets and have the message from the Lord,<br />
let them pray. Let them pray about the things<br />
that are still in the Lord’s temple. Let them<br />
pray about the things that are still in the<br />
king’s palace. And let them pray about the<br />
the fourth year that Zedekiah was king of Judah The<br />
Hebrew has, “At the beginning of the kingship of Jehoiakim.”<br />
This is probably a scribal error. Vs. 3 talks about Zedekiah.<br />
Jer. 28:1 mentions the fourth year: 594–593 B.C.<br />
yoke A pole that was put on the shoulders of men or animals to<br />
help them carry or pull things. This often showed that a<br />
person was a slave. temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.
JEREMIAH 27:19–28:13 898<br />
things that are still in Jerusalem. Let those<br />
prophets pray that all those things will not be<br />
taken away to Babylon.”<br />
19The Lord All-Powerful says this about<br />
those things that are still left in Jerusalem. In<br />
the temple,* there are the pillars, the bronze<br />
sea, the moveable stands, and other things.*<br />
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, left those<br />
things in Jerusalem. 20Nebuchadnezzar didn’t<br />
take those things away at the time he took<br />
Jehoiachin king of Judah away as a prisoner.<br />
Jehoiachin was the son of King Jehoiakim.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar also took other important<br />
people away from Judah and Jerusalem. 21The<br />
Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of<br />
Israel, says this about the things still left in the<br />
Lord’s temple, and in the king’s palace and in<br />
Jerusalem: “All of those things will also be<br />
taken to Babylon. 22Those things will be<br />
brought to Babylon until the day comes when I<br />
go to get them.” This message is from the<br />
Lord. “Then I will bring those things back. I<br />
will put those things back in this place.”<br />
The False Prophet Hananiah<br />
In the fifth month of the fourth year*<br />
28that Zedekiah was king of Judah,<br />
Hananiah the prophet spoke to me. Hananiah<br />
was the son of a man named Azzur. Hananiah<br />
was from the town of Gibeon. Hananiah was<br />
in the Lord’s temple when he spoke to me.<br />
The priests and all the people were there also.<br />
This is what Hananiah said: 2“The Lord All-<br />
Powerful, the God of the people of Israel,<br />
says: ‘I will break the yoke* that the king of<br />
Babylon has put on the people of Judah.<br />
3Before two years are over, I will bring back<br />
all the things that Nebuchadnezzar king of<br />
Babylon took from the Lord’s temple.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar has carried those things to<br />
Babylon. But I will bring those things back<br />
here to Jerusalem. 4I<br />
Jehoiachin is the son of Jehoiakim. And I will<br />
bring back all those people of Judah that<br />
Nebuchadnezzar forced to leave their homes<br />
and go to Babylon.’ This message is from the<br />
Lord. ‘So I will break the yoke that the king<br />
of Babylon put on the people of Judah!’”<br />
5Then the prophet <strong>Jeremiah</strong> answered the<br />
prophet Hananiah. They were standing in the<br />
temple of the Lord. The priests and all the<br />
people there could hear <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s answer.<br />
6<strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to Hananiah, “Amen!* I hope<br />
the Lord will really do that! I hope the Lord<br />
will make the message you preach come true.<br />
I hope the Lord will bring the things of the<br />
Lord’s temple* back to this place from<br />
Babylon. And I hope the Lord will bring all<br />
the people that were forced to leave their<br />
homes back to this place.<br />
7“But listen to what I must say, Hananiah.<br />
Listen to what I say to all you people.<br />
will also bring<br />
Jehoiachin king of Judah back to this place.<br />
8There<br />
were prophets long before you and I became<br />
prophets, Hananiah. They preached that war,<br />
hunger, and terrible sicknesses would come to<br />
many countries and great kingdoms. 9But the<br />
prophet that preaches that we will have peace<br />
must be tested to see if he truly was sent by<br />
the Lord. If the message of that prophet<br />
comes true, then people can know that he<br />
truly was sent by the Lord.”<br />
10<strong>Jeremiah</strong> was wearing a yoke* around his<br />
neck. Then the prophet Hananiah took that<br />
yoke from <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s neck. Hananiah broke<br />
that yoke. 11Then Hananiah spoke loudly, so<br />
all the people could hear him. He said, “The<br />
Lord says: ‘In the same way I will break the<br />
yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He<br />
put that yoke on all the nations of the world.<br />
But I will break that yoke before two years<br />
are over.’”<br />
After Hananiah said that, <strong>Jeremiah</strong> left the<br />
temple.*<br />
12Then the message of the Lord came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. This happened after Hananiah had<br />
taken the yoke* off of <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s neck and<br />
had broken it. 13The Lord said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
“Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord<br />
says: You have broken a wooden yoke. But I<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
pillars … other things For a description of these things, see 1<br />
Kings 7:23–37.<br />
fourth year This was about 593 B.C.<br />
yoke A pole that was put on the shoulders of men or animals to<br />
help them carry or pull things. This often showed that a person<br />
was a slave.<br />
Amen A Hebrew word meaning “truly,” “indeed.” It is used to<br />
show that a person agrees with what has been said.
will make a yoke of iron in the place of the<br />
wooden yoke.’ 14The Lord All-Powerful, the<br />
God of Israel, says: ‘I will put a yoke of iron<br />
on the necks of all these nations. I will do that<br />
to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of<br />
Babylon. And they will be slaves to him. I<br />
will even give Nebuchadnezzar control over<br />
the wild animals.’”<br />
15Then the prophet <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to the<br />
prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The<br />
Lord did not send you. But you have made the<br />
people of Judah trust in lies. 16So this is what<br />
the Lord says, ‘Soon I will take you from this<br />
world, Hananiah. You will die this year.<br />
Why? Because you taught the people to turn<br />
against the Lord.’”<br />
17Hananiah died in the seventh month of<br />
that same year.<br />
A Letter to the Jewish Captives in Babylon<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> sent a letter to the Jewish<br />
29captives* in Babylon. He sent it to the<br />
elders (leaders), the priests, the prophets, and<br />
all the other people that were living in<br />
Babylon. These were the people that<br />
Nebuchadnezzar took from Jerusalem and<br />
brought to Babylon. 2(This letter was sent<br />
after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the<br />
officials and the leaders of Judah and<br />
Jerusalem, the carpenters, and the metal<br />
workers had been taken from Jerusalem.)<br />
3Zedekiah sent Elasah and Gemariah to King<br />
Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was the king of<br />
Judah. Elasah was the son of Shaphan. And<br />
Gemariah was the son of Hilkiah. <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
gave the letter to those men to take to<br />
Babylon. This is what the letter said:<br />
4The Lord All-Powerful, the God of the<br />
people of Israel, says these things to all those<br />
people he sent into captivity from Jerusalem<br />
to Babylon: 5“Build houses and live in them.<br />
Settle in the land. Plant gardens and eat the<br />
food you grow. 6Get married and have sons<br />
and daughters. Find wives for your sons. And<br />
let your daughters be married. Do that so they<br />
also may have sons and daughters. Have<br />
captives People that were taken away like prisoners. Here this<br />
means the Jewish people that were taken to Babylon.<br />
899 JEREMIAH 28:14–29:17<br />
many children and grow in number in<br />
Babylon. Don’t become fewer in number.<br />
7Also, do good things for the city I sent you<br />
to. Pray to the Lord for the city you are living<br />
in. Why? Because if there is peace in that city,<br />
then you will have peace also.” 8The Lord<br />
All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel,<br />
says: “Don’t let your prophets and the people<br />
that practice magic fool you. Don’t listen to<br />
the dreams they have. 9They are preaching<br />
lies. And they are saying that their message is<br />
from me. But I didn’t send it.” This message<br />
is from the Lord.<br />
10This is what the Lord says:<br />
“Babylon will be powerful for 70 years.<br />
After that time, I will come to you<br />
people that are living in Babylon. I will<br />
keep my good promise to bring you back<br />
to Jerusalem. 11I say this because I know<br />
the plans that I have for you.” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “I have good<br />
plans for you. I don’t plan to hurt you. I<br />
plan to give you hope and a good future.<br />
12Then you people will call my name.<br />
You will come to me and pray to me.<br />
And I will listen to you. 13You people<br />
will search for me. And when you search<br />
for me with all your heart, you will find<br />
me. 14I will let you find me.” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “And I will<br />
bring you back from your captivity. I<br />
forced you to leave this place. But I will<br />
gather you from all the nations and<br />
places where I have sent you,”—this<br />
message is from the Lord—“and I will<br />
bring you back to this place.”<br />
15You people might say, “But the<br />
Lord has given us prophets here in<br />
Babylon.” 16But the Lord says these<br />
things about your relatives that were not<br />
carried away to Babylon. I am talking<br />
about the king that is sitting on David’s<br />
throne now and all the other people that<br />
are still in the city of Jerusalem. 17The<br />
Lord All-Powerful says: “I will soon<br />
send the sword, hunger, and terrible<br />
sicknesses against those people that are<br />
still in Jerusalem. And I will make them<br />
the same as bad figs, which are too
JEREMIAH 29:18–32<br />
rotten to eat. 18I will chase those people<br />
that are still in Jerusalem with the<br />
sword, with hunger, and terrible<br />
sicknesses. And I will make it so that all<br />
the kingdoms of the earth will be<br />
frightened at what has happened to those<br />
people. Those people will be destroyed.<br />
People will whistle with amazement<br />
when they hear about the things that<br />
happened. And people use them as an<br />
example when they ask for bad things to<br />
happen to people. People will insult<br />
them wherever I force those people to<br />
go. 19I will make all those things happen<br />
because those people of Jerusalem have<br />
not listened to my message.” This<br />
message is from the Lord. “I sent my<br />
message to them again and again. I used<br />
my servants, the prophets, to give my<br />
messages to those people. But the people<br />
didn’t listen.” This message is from the<br />
Lord. 20“You people are captives.* I<br />
forced you to leave Jerusalem and go to<br />
Babylon. So, listen to the message from<br />
the Lord.”<br />
21The Lord All-Powerful says this<br />
about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah<br />
son of Maaseiah: “These two men have<br />
been preaching lies to you. They have<br />
said that their message is from me. {But<br />
they were lying.} I will give those two<br />
prophets to Nebuchadnezzar king of<br />
Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar will kill<br />
those prophets in front of all you people<br />
that are captives in Babylon. 22All of the<br />
Jewish captives will use those men as<br />
examples when they ask for bad things to<br />
happen to other people. Those captives<br />
will say: ‘May the Lord treat you like<br />
Zedekiah and Ahab. The king of Babylon<br />
burned those two in the fire!’ 23Those two<br />
prophets did very bad things among the<br />
people of Israel. They did the sin of<br />
adultery* with their neighbors’ wives.<br />
They also spoke lies and said those lies<br />
captives People taken away like prisoners. Here this means the<br />
Jewish people that were taken to Babylon.<br />
adultery Breaking the marriage promise by sexual sin.<br />
900<br />
were a message from me, the Lord. I did<br />
not tell them to do those things. I know<br />
what they have done. I am a witness.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
God’s Message to Shemaiah<br />
24Also give a message to Shemaiah.<br />
Shemaiah is from the Nehelam family. 25The<br />
Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says:<br />
“Shemaiah, you sent letters to all the people in<br />
Jerusalem. And you sent letters to the priest<br />
Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. You also sent<br />
letters to all the priests. You sent those letters<br />
in your own name and not by the authority of<br />
the Lord. 26Shemaiah, this is what you said in<br />
your letter to Zephaniah: ‘Zephaniah, the Lord<br />
has made you priest in place of Jehoiada. You<br />
are to be in charge of the Lord’s temple. You<br />
should arrest anyone that acts like a crazy<br />
person* and acts like a prophet. You should<br />
put that person’s feet between large blocks of<br />
wood and put neck-irons* on him. 27Now,<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> is acting like a prophet. So why have<br />
you not arrested him? 28<strong>Jeremiah</strong> has sent this<br />
message to us in Babylon: “You people in<br />
Babylon will be there for a long time. So build<br />
houses and settle down. Plant gardens and eat<br />
what you grow.’”<br />
29Zephaniah the priest read the letter to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet. 30Then the message<br />
from the Lord came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>: 31“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
send this message to all the captives* in<br />
Babylon: ‘This is what the Lord says about<br />
Shemaiah, the man from the Nehelam family:<br />
Shemaiah has preached to you, but I didn’t<br />
send him. Shemaiah has made you believe a<br />
lie. 32Because Shemaiah has done that, this is<br />
what the Lord says: I will soon punish<br />
Shemaiah, the man from the Nehelam family.<br />
I will completely destroy his family. And he<br />
will not share in the good things I will do for<br />
my people.’” This message is from the Lord.<br />
“‘I will punish Shemaiah because he has<br />
taught the people to turn against the Lord.’”<br />
crazy person Shemaiah is referring to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> here. See<br />
verses 27–28.<br />
neck-iron(s) A ring made from iron. People put the rings<br />
around prisoners necks. They often fastened a chain to the<br />
ring to control the prisoners.
901 JEREMIAH 30:1–15<br />
Promises of Hope<br />
This is the message that came to<br />
30<strong>Jeremiah</strong> from the Lord. 2The Lord, the<br />
God of the people of Israel, said: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
write in a book the words I have spoken to<br />
you. Write this book for yourself. 3Do this<br />
because the days will come”—this message is<br />
from the Lord—“when I will bring my<br />
people, Israel and Judah, back from exile.”*<br />
This message is from the Lord. “I will put<br />
those people back in the land that I gave to<br />
their ancestors.* Then my people will own<br />
that land again.”<br />
4The Lord spoke this message about the<br />
people of Israel and Judah. 5This is what the<br />
Lord said:<br />
“We hear people crying from fear!<br />
People are scared!<br />
There is no peace!<br />
6 “Ask this question, and consider it:<br />
Can a man have a baby? Of course not!<br />
Then why do I see every strong man<br />
holding his stomach<br />
like a woman having labor pains?<br />
Why is every person’s face turning white<br />
like a dead man?<br />
{Why? Because the men are very scared.}<br />
7 “This is a very important time for Jacob.*<br />
This is a time of great trouble.<br />
There will never be another time like this.<br />
But Jacob will be saved.<br />
8“At that time,” this message is from the<br />
Lord All-Powerful, “I will break the yoke*<br />
from the necks of the people of Israel and<br />
Judah. And I will break the ropes holding<br />
you. People from foreign countries will never<br />
again force my people to be slaves. 9The<br />
Lord their God. And they will serve David<br />
their king,* I will send that king to them.<br />
10 “So, Jacob* my servant, don’t be afraid!”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“Israel, don’t be afraid.<br />
I will save you from that faraway place.<br />
You are captives* in that faraway land,<br />
But I will save your descendants.*<br />
{I will bring them back} from that land.<br />
Jacob will have peace again.<br />
People will not bother Jacob.<br />
There will be no enemy to scare my people.<br />
11 People of Israel and Judah, I am with you.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“And I will save you.<br />
I sent you to those nations.<br />
But I will completely destroy<br />
all those nations.<br />
It is true, I will destroy those nations,<br />
but I will not destroy you.<br />
You must be punished<br />
for the bad things you did.<br />
But I will discipline you fairly.”<br />
12 The Lord says:<br />
“You people of Israel and Judah<br />
have a wound that can’t be cured.<br />
You have an injury that will not heal.<br />
13 There is no person to care for your sores.<br />
So you will not be healed.<br />
14 You became friends with many nations.<br />
But those nations don’t care about you.<br />
Your ‘friends’ have forgotten you.<br />
I hurt you like an enemy.<br />
I punished you very hard.<br />
I did this because of your great guilt.<br />
I did this because of your many sins.<br />
15 Israel and Judah, why are you yelling<br />
about your wound?<br />
Your wound is painful,<br />
and there is no cure for it.<br />
people of Israel and Judah will not serve I, the Lord, did these things to you<br />
foreign countries. No! They will serve the because of your great guilt.<br />
I did these things<br />
because of your many sins.<br />
exile Being forced to leave one’s home country.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
Jacob Another name for Israel. See Gen. 32:22–28.<br />
yoke A pole that was put on the shoulders of men or animals to<br />
help them carry or pull things. This often showed that a<br />
person was a slave.<br />
David their king This means another king of Israel, that will be<br />
great like King David.<br />
captives People that were taken away like prisoners. Here this<br />
means the Jewish people that were taken to Babylon.<br />
descendants A person’s children and their future families.
JEREMIAH 30:16–31:6<br />
16 Those nations destroyed you,<br />
but now they have been destroyed.<br />
Israel and Judah,<br />
your enemies will become captives.*<br />
Those people stole things from you.<br />
But other people will steal from them.<br />
Those people took things from you in war.<br />
But other people will take things<br />
from them in war.<br />
17 And I will bring your health back.<br />
And I will heal your wounds.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“Why? Because other people<br />
said you were outcasts.*<br />
Those people said,<br />
‘No one cares about Zion.*’”<br />
18 The Lord says:<br />
“Jacob’s* people are now in captivity.<br />
But they will come back.<br />
And I will have pity on Jacob’s houses.<br />
The city* is now only an empty hill<br />
covered with ruined buildings.<br />
But the city will be built again on its hill.<br />
And the king’s house will be built again<br />
where it should be.<br />
19 People in those places<br />
will sing songs of praise.<br />
And there will be the sound of laughter.<br />
I will give them many children.<br />
Israel and Judah will not be small.<br />
I will bring honor to them.<br />
No person will look down on them.<br />
20 Jacob’s family will be<br />
like the family of Israel long ago.<br />
I will make Israel and Judah strong,<br />
and I will punish the people<br />
that hurt them.<br />
21 One of their own people will lead them.<br />
That ruler will come from my people.<br />
People can come close to me<br />
only if I ask them to.<br />
captives People that were taken away like prisoners. Here this<br />
means the Jewish people that were taken to Babylon.<br />
outcasts People that were thrown out of some special group of<br />
people. Usually other people don’t like or respect outcasts.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
Jacob Another name for Israel. See Gen. 32:22–28.<br />
city This probably refers to Jerusalem. But it might also mean<br />
all of the cities of Israel and Judah.<br />
902<br />
So I will ask that leader to come to me,<br />
and he will be close to me.<br />
22 You will be my people.<br />
And I will be your God.”<br />
23 The Lord was very angry!<br />
He punished the people.<br />
The punishment came like a storm.<br />
The punishment came like a tornado<br />
against those wicked people.<br />
24 The Lord will be angry<br />
until he finishes punishing the people.<br />
He will be angry until he finishes<br />
the punishment he planned.<br />
When that day comes,<br />
you people of Judah will understand.<br />
The New Israel<br />
The Lord said these things, “At that<br />
31time, I will be the God of all the family<br />
groups of Israel. And they will be my people.”<br />
2 The Lord says:<br />
“The people who escaped the enemy’s sword<br />
will find comfort in the desert.<br />
Israel will go there looking for rest.”<br />
3 From far away, the Lord<br />
will appear to his people.<br />
{The Lord says,}<br />
“I love you people with a love<br />
that continues forever.<br />
That is why I have continued<br />
showing you kindness.<br />
4 Israel, my bride, I will build you again.<br />
You will be a country again.<br />
You will pick up your tambourines again.<br />
You will dance with all the other people<br />
that are having fun.<br />
5 You farmers of Israel will plant<br />
fields of grapes again.<br />
You will plant those vineyards on the hills<br />
around the city of Samaria.<br />
And those farmers will enjoy the fruit<br />
from those vineyards.<br />
6 There will be a time when watchmen*<br />
shout this message:<br />
watchmen Usually this means a guard that stands on the city<br />
walls watching for people coming to the city. But here it<br />
probably means the prophets.
‘Come, let’s go up to Zion*<br />
to worship the Lord our God!’<br />
Even the watchmen in the hill country of<br />
Ephraim* will shout that message.”<br />
7 The Lord says:<br />
“Be happy and sing for Jacob*!<br />
Shout for Israel,<br />
the greatest of the nations!<br />
Sing your praises and shout:<br />
‘The Lord saved his people!*<br />
He has saved the people that are left alive<br />
from the nation of Israel.’<br />
8 Remember, I will bring Israel<br />
from that country in the north.<br />
I will gather the people of Israel<br />
from the faraway places on earth.<br />
Some of the people will be blind<br />
and crippled.<br />
Some of the women will be pregnant<br />
and ready to give birth.<br />
But many, many people will come back.<br />
9 Those people will come back crying.<br />
But I will lead them and comfort them.<br />
I will lead those people by streams of water.<br />
I will lead them on an easy road,<br />
so that they will not stumble.<br />
I will lead them in that way<br />
because I am Israel’s father.<br />
And Ephraim* is my firstborn son.<br />
10 “Nations, listen to this message<br />
from the Lord!<br />
Tell this message in the faraway lands<br />
by the sea:<br />
‘God scattered the people of Israel<br />
But God will bring them back together.<br />
And he will watch over his flock (people)<br />
like a shepherd.’<br />
11 The Lord will bring Jacob* back.<br />
The Lord will save his people from people<br />
that were stronger than them.<br />
12 The people of Israel will come<br />
to the top of Zion,*<br />
and they will shout with joy.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
Ephraim This means the northern kingdom of Israel.<br />
Jacob Another name for Israel. See Gen. 32:22–28.<br />
The Lord saved his people Or, “Lord, save your people!” This<br />
is often a shout of victory.<br />
903 JEREMIAH 31:7–18<br />
Their faces will shine with happiness<br />
about the good things the Lord<br />
gives them.<br />
The Lord will give them grain, new wine,<br />
olive oil, young sheep, and cows.<br />
They will be like a garden<br />
that has plenty of water.<br />
And the people of Israel will not<br />
be troubled anymore.<br />
13 Then the young women of Israel<br />
will be happy and dance.<br />
And the young men and old men<br />
will join in the dancing.<br />
I will change their sadness into happiness.<br />
I will comfort the people of Israel.<br />
I will change their sadness to happiness.<br />
14 I will give the priests plenty of food.<br />
And my people will be filled and satisfied<br />
with the good things I give them.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
15 The Lord says:<br />
“A sound will be heard in Ramah.<br />
It will be bitter crying and<br />
much sadness.<br />
Rachel* will be crying for her children.<br />
Rachel will refuse to be comforted,<br />
because her children are dead.”<br />
16 But the Lord says:<br />
“Stop crying!<br />
Don’t fill your eyes with tears!<br />
You will be rewarded for your work!”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“The people of Israel will come back from<br />
their enemy’s land.<br />
17 Israel, there is hope for you.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“Your children will come back<br />
to their own land.<br />
18 I have heard Ephraim* crying.<br />
I heard Ephraim say these things:<br />
‘Lord, you really punished me!<br />
And I learned my lesson.<br />
I was like a calf that was never trained.<br />
Rachel Jacob’s wife. Here this means all the women that are<br />
crying for their husbands and children that have died in the<br />
war with Babylon.
JEREMIAH 31:19–34<br />
Please stop punishing me,<br />
and I will come back to you.<br />
You truly are the Lord my God.<br />
19 Lord, I wandered away from you.<br />
But I learned about the bad things I did.<br />
So I changed my heart and life.<br />
Iamashamed and embarrassed about the<br />
foolish things I did when I was young.’<br />
20 {God says,}<br />
“You know that Ephraim* is my dear son.<br />
I love that child.<br />
Yes, I often criticized Ephraim,<br />
but I still think about him.<br />
I love him very much.<br />
And I really do want to comfort him.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
21 “People of Israel, fix the road signs.<br />
Put up the signs that show the way home.<br />
Watch the road.<br />
Remember the road you are leaving on.<br />
Israel, my bride, come home.<br />
Come back to your towns.<br />
22 Unfaithful daughter,<br />
how long will you wander around?<br />
{When will you come home?}”<br />
When the Lord creates something new in<br />
the land: A woman surrounding a man.*<br />
23The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel,<br />
says: “I will again do good things for the people<br />
of Judah. I will bring back the people who were<br />
taken away as prisoners. At that time, the<br />
people in the land of Judah and in its towns will<br />
once again use these words: ‘May the Lord<br />
bless you, good home and holy mountain!’*<br />
24“People in all the towns of Judah will live<br />
together in peace. Farmers and those that move<br />
around with their flocks will live peacefully<br />
together in Judah. 25I will give rest and strength<br />
to the people that are weak and tired.”<br />
Ephraim This means the northern kingdom of Israel.<br />
A woman surrounding a man This line is hard to understand.<br />
It might be part of some saying that was familiar to the people<br />
in <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s time.<br />
good home and holy mountain This was a blessing for the<br />
temple and for Zion, the mountain the temple was built on.<br />
904<br />
26After hearing that, I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) woke up<br />
and looked around. That was a very pleasant<br />
sleep.<br />
27“The days are coming,” this message is<br />
from the Lord, “when I will help the family of<br />
Israel and Judah to grow. I will help their<br />
children and animals to grow too. It will be<br />
like planting and caring for a plant. 28In the<br />
past, I watched over Israel and Judah, but I<br />
watched for the time to pull them up. I tore<br />
them down. I destroyed them. I gave many<br />
troubles to them. But now, I will watch over<br />
them to build them up and make them<br />
strong.” This message is from the Lord.<br />
29“People won’t use this saying anymore:<br />
The parents ate the sour grapes,<br />
but the children got the sour taste.*<br />
30No, each person will die for his own sin.<br />
The person that eats sour grapes will get the<br />
sour taste.”<br />
The New Agreement<br />
31The Lord said these things, “The time is<br />
coming when I will make a new Agreement*<br />
with the family of Israel, and with the family<br />
of Judah. 32It will not be like the Agreement I<br />
made with their ancestors.* I made that<br />
Agreement when I took them by the hand and<br />
brought them out of Egypt. I was their<br />
Master, but they broke that Agreement.” This<br />
message is from the Lord.<br />
33“In the future, I will make this Agreement*<br />
with the people of Israel.” This message is from<br />
the Lord. “I will put my teachings in their<br />
minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I<br />
will be their God, and they will be my people.<br />
34People will not have to teach their neighbors<br />
and relatives to know the Lord. Why? Because<br />
all people, from the least important to the<br />
greatest, will know me.” This message is from<br />
parents … sour taste This means that children were suffering<br />
for the things their parents did.<br />
Agreement Literally, “Proof.” The flat stones with the Ten<br />
Commandments written on them were proof of the Agreement<br />
between God and Israel.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.
905 JEREMIAH 31:35–32:9<br />
the Lord. “I will forgive them for the bad things<br />
they did. I won’t remember their sins.”<br />
The Lord Will Never Leave Israel<br />
35 The Lord says:<br />
“The Lord makes the sun shine in the day.<br />
And the Lord makes the moon and<br />
the stars shine at night.<br />
The Lord stirs up the sea so that its waves<br />
crash on the shore.<br />
The Lord All-Powerful is his name.”<br />
The Lord says these things:<br />
36<br />
37<br />
“The descendants* of Israel will never<br />
stop being a nation.<br />
That would happen only if I lost control<br />
of the sun, moon, stars, and sea.”<br />
The Lord says:<br />
“I’ll never reject the descendants of Israel.<br />
That would happen only if people could<br />
measure the sky above,<br />
and learn all the secrets<br />
of the earth below.<br />
Only then would I reject<br />
the descendants of Israel.<br />
Only then would I reject them<br />
for the bad things they have done.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
The New Jerusalem<br />
38This message is from the Lord, “The days<br />
are coming when the city of Jerusalem will be<br />
built again for the Lord. The whole city will<br />
be built again—from the Tower of Hananel to<br />
the Corner Gate. 39The measuring line* will<br />
stretch from the Corner Gate straight to the<br />
hill of Gareb and then turn to the place named<br />
Gorah. 40The<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Buys a Field<br />
This is the message from the Lord that<br />
32came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> during the tenth year<br />
that Zedekiah was king of Judah.* The tenth<br />
year of Zedekiah was the 18th year of<br />
Nebuchadnezzar.<br />
whole valley where dead bodies<br />
and ashes are thrown will be holy to the Lord.<br />
And all the terraces down to the bottom of<br />
Kidron Valley all the way to the corner of<br />
Horse Gate will be included. All that area will<br />
be holy to the Lord. The city of Jerusalem<br />
will never again be torn down or destroyed.”<br />
2At that time, the army of<br />
the king of Babylon was surrounding the city<br />
of Jerusalem. And <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was under arrest<br />
in the courtyard of the guard. This courtyard<br />
was at the palace of the king of Judah.<br />
3(Zedekiah king of Judah had put <strong>Jeremiah</strong> in<br />
prison in that place. Zedekiah didn’t like the<br />
things <strong>Jeremiah</strong> prophesied.* <strong>Jeremiah</strong> had<br />
said, “The Lord says: ‘I will soon give the<br />
city of Jerusalem to the king of Babylon.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar will capture this city.<br />
4Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from<br />
the army of the Babylonians. But he will<br />
surely be given to the king of Babylon. And<br />
Zedekiah will speak to the king of Babylon<br />
face to face. Zedekiah will see him with his<br />
own eyes. 5The king of Babylon will take<br />
Zedekiah to Babylon. Zedekiah will stay there<br />
until I have punished him.’ This message is<br />
from the Lord. ‘If you fight against the army<br />
of the Babylonians, you will not succeed.’”)<br />
6While <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was prisoner, he said,<br />
“The message from the Lord came to me.<br />
This was the message: 7<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, your<br />
cousin, Hanamel, will come to you soon. He<br />
is the son of your uncle Shallum. Hanamel<br />
will say to you, ‘<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, buy my field near<br />
the town of Anathoth. Buy it because you are<br />
my nearest relative. It is your right and your<br />
responsibility to buy that field.’<br />
8“Then it happened just as the Lord said.<br />
My cousin Hanamel came to me in the<br />
courtyard of the guard. Hanamel said to me,<br />
‘<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, buy my field near the town of<br />
Anathoth, in the land of the family group of<br />
Benjamin. Buy that land for yourself because<br />
it is your right to buy it and own it.’”<br />
So I knew that this was a message from the<br />
Lord. 9I bought the field at Anathoth from my<br />
cousin Hanamel. I weighed out 17 shekels* of<br />
descendants A person’s children and their future families.<br />
measuring line A rope or chain for measuring property lines.<br />
tenth year … Judah This was 588–587 B.C. This was the year<br />
Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.<br />
prophesied Spoke for God.<br />
shekel Or, “2/5 of an ounce.”
JEREMIAH 32:10–29<br />
906<br />
silver for him. 10I signed the deed.* And I had<br />
a copy of the deed sealed up.* And I got some<br />
men to witness the things I had done. And I<br />
weighed out the silver on the scales. 11Then I<br />
took the sealed copy of the deed and the copy<br />
that was not sealed, 12and I gave them to<br />
Baruch. Baruch was the son of Neriah. Neriah<br />
was the son of Mahseiah. The sealed copy of<br />
the deed had all the terms and conditions of<br />
my purchase. I gave this deed to Baruch while<br />
my cousin Hanamel and the other witnesses<br />
were there. Those witnesses also signed the<br />
deed. There were also many people of Judah<br />
sitting in the courtyard that saw me give the<br />
deed to Baruch.<br />
13With all the people watching, I said to<br />
Baruch: 14“The Lord All-Powerful, the God of<br />
Israel, says: ‘Take both copies of the deed—the<br />
sealed copy and the copy that was not sealed—<br />
and put them in a clay jar. Do this so that these<br />
deeds will last a long time.’ 15The Lord All-<br />
Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘In the<br />
future, my people will once again buy houses,<br />
fields, and vineyards in the land of Israel.’”<br />
16After I gave the deed to Baruch son of<br />
Neriah I prayed to the Lord. I said:<br />
17“Lord God, you made the skies and<br />
the earth. You made them with your<br />
great power. There is nothing too<br />
wonderful for you to do. 18Lord, you are<br />
loyal and kind to thousands of people.<br />
But you also bring punishment to<br />
children for their fathers’ sins. Great and<br />
powerful God, your name is the Lord<br />
All-Powerful. 19You plan and do great<br />
things, Lord. You see everything that<br />
people do. You give reward to people<br />
that do good things and you punish<br />
people that do bad things—you give<br />
them what they deserve. 20Lord,<br />
and you did those things wherever there<br />
are people. You have become famous<br />
because of these things.<br />
you did<br />
powerful miracles in the land of Egypt.<br />
You have done powerful miracles even<br />
until today. You did those things in Israel<br />
21Lord, you used<br />
powerful miracles and brought your<br />
people Israel out of Egypt. You used<br />
your own powerful hand to do those<br />
things. Your power was amazing!<br />
22“Lord, you gave this land to the<br />
people of Israel. This is the land you<br />
promised to give to their ancestors* long<br />
ago. It is a very good land. It is a good land<br />
with many good things. 23The people of<br />
Israel came into this land and took it for<br />
their own. But those people didn’t obey<br />
you. They didn’t follow your teachings.<br />
They didn’t do the things you commanded.<br />
So you made all these terrible things<br />
happen to the people of Israel.<br />
24“And now, the enemy has surrounded<br />
the city. They are building ramps, so that<br />
they can get over the walls of Jerusalem<br />
and capture it. By using their swords, and<br />
hunger, and terrible sicknesses, the<br />
Babylonian army will defeat the city of<br />
Jerusalem. The Babylonian army is<br />
attacking the city now. Lord, you said this<br />
would happen—and now you see it is<br />
happening.<br />
25“Lord my Master, all of those bad<br />
things are happening. But now you are<br />
telling me, ‘<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, buy the field with<br />
silver and choose some men to witness<br />
the purchase.’ You are telling me this<br />
while the Babylonian army is ready to<br />
capture the city. {Why should I waste my<br />
money like that?}”<br />
26Then the message from the Lord came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>: 27“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, I am the Lord. I am the<br />
God of every person on the earth. <strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
you know that nothing is impossible for me.”<br />
28The Lord also said, “I will soon give the city<br />
of Jerusalem to the Babylonian army and to<br />
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. That army<br />
will capture the city. 29The Babylonian army<br />
is already attacking the city of Jerusalem.<br />
deed A piece of paper that proves a person owns a certain piece<br />
of property.<br />
sealed up Important documents were rolled up and tied with a<br />
string. Then a piece of clay or wax was put on the string. Then<br />
a person’s mark was put in that clay or wax. This way, people<br />
could prove nothing in the document was changed.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.
They will soon enter the city and start a fire.<br />
They will burn this city down. There are<br />
houses in this city where the people of<br />
Jerusalem made me angry by offering<br />
sacrifices to the false god Baal* on the<br />
housetops. And the people poured out drink<br />
offerings to other idol gods. The Babylonian<br />
army will burn down those houses. 30I have<br />
watched the people of Israel and the people of<br />
Judah. Everything they do is evil. They have<br />
done evil things since they were young. The<br />
people of Israel have made me very angry.<br />
They have made me angry because they<br />
worship idols that they made with their own<br />
hands.” This message is from the Lord.<br />
31“From the time that Jerusalem was built until<br />
now, the people of this city have made me<br />
angry. This city has made me so angry, I must<br />
remove it from my sight. 32I will destroy<br />
Jerusalem because of all the evil things the<br />
people of Israel and Judah have done. The<br />
people, their kings, leaders, their priests and<br />
prophets, the men of Judah, and the people of<br />
Jerusalem have all made me angry.<br />
33“Those people should have come to me<br />
for help. But they turned their backs to me. I<br />
tried to teach those people again and again.<br />
But they would not listen to me. I tried to<br />
correct them, but they would not listen.<br />
34Those people have made their idols—and I<br />
hate those idols. They put their idols in the<br />
temple* that is called by my name. In this<br />
way, they made my temple ‘dirty.’<br />
35“In the Valley of Ben Hinnom,* those<br />
people built high places* to the false god<br />
Baal.* They built those worship places so that<br />
they could burn their sons and daughters as<br />
child sacrifices. I never commanded them to do<br />
Baal The Canaanite people believed that this false god brought<br />
the rain and storms. They also thought that he made the land<br />
produce good crops.<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
Valley of Ben Hinnom This valley is also called, “Gehenna.”<br />
This name comes from the Hebrew name “Ge Hinnom—<br />
Hinnom’s Valley.” This place became an example of how<br />
God punishes wicked people.<br />
high places Special places where the people worshiped false<br />
gods. These places were often on hilltops, but not always.<br />
Some ‘high places’ were in valleys.<br />
907 JEREMIAH 32:30–44<br />
such a terrible thing. I never even thought the<br />
people of Judah would do such a terrible thing.<br />
36“You people are saying, ‘The king of<br />
Babylon will capture Jerusalem. He will use<br />
swords, hunger, and terrible sicknesses to<br />
defeat this city.’ But the Lord, the God of the<br />
people of Israel, says: 37‘I have forced the<br />
people of Israel and Judah to leave their land.<br />
I was very angry with those people. But I will<br />
bring them back to this place. I will gather<br />
those people from the land where I forced<br />
them to go. I will bring them back to this<br />
place. I will let them live in peace and safety.<br />
38The people of Israel and Judah will be my<br />
people. And I will be their God. 39I will give<br />
those people the desire to be truly one people.<br />
They will have one goal—they will truly want<br />
to worship me all their lives. They will truly<br />
want to do this, and so will their children.<br />
40“‘I will make an Agreement with the<br />
people of Israel and Judah. This Agreement<br />
will last forever. In this Agreement, I will<br />
never turn away from those people. I will<br />
always be good to them. I will make them want<br />
to respect me. Then they will never turn away<br />
from me. 41They will make me happy. I will<br />
enjoy doing good to them. And I will surely<br />
plant them in this land and make them grow. I<br />
will do this with all my heart and soul.’”<br />
42This is what the Lord says: “I have<br />
brought this great disaster to the people of<br />
Israel and Judah. In the same way, I will bring<br />
good things to them. I promise to do good<br />
things for them. 43You people are saying:<br />
‘This land is an empty desert. There are no<br />
people or animals here. The Babylonian army<br />
defeated this country.’ But in the future,<br />
people will once again buy fields in this land.<br />
44People will use their money and buy fields.<br />
They will sign and seal their agreements.<br />
People will witness the people signing their<br />
deeds.* People will again buy fields in the<br />
land where the family group of Benjamin<br />
lives. They will buy fields in the area around<br />
Jerusalem. They will buy fields in the towns<br />
of the land of Judah, in the hill country, in the<br />
western foothills, and in the area of the<br />
deed(s) A piece of paper that proves a person owns a certain<br />
piece of property.
JEREMIAH 33:1–21<br />
908<br />
southern desert. That will happen because I<br />
will bring your people back home.” This<br />
message is from the Lord.<br />
The Promise of God<br />
The message from the Lord came to<br />
33<strong>Jeremiah</strong> a second time. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was<br />
still locked up in the courtyard* of the guards.<br />
2The Lord made the earth, and he keeps it<br />
safe. The Lord is his name. The Lord says,<br />
3“Judah, pray to me, and I will answer you. I<br />
will tell you important secrets. You have<br />
never heard these things before. 4The Lord is<br />
the God of Israel. The Lord says these things<br />
about the houses in Jerusalem and about the<br />
palaces* of the kings of Judah. The enemy<br />
will pull those houses down. The enemy will<br />
build ramps up to the top of the city walls.<br />
The enemy will use swords and fight the<br />
people in these cities.<br />
5“The people in Jerusalem have done many<br />
bad things. I am angry at those people. I have<br />
turned against them. So I will kill many, many<br />
people there. The Babylonian army will come<br />
to fight against Jerusalem. There will be<br />
many, many dead bodies in the houses in<br />
Jerusalem.<br />
6“But then I will heal the people in that<br />
city. I will let those people enjoy peace and<br />
safety. 7I will make good things happen to<br />
Judah and Israel again. I will make those<br />
people strong like in the past. 8They sinned<br />
against me—but I will wash away that sin.<br />
They fought against me—but I will forgive<br />
them. 9Then Jerusalem will be a wonderful<br />
place. People will be happy. And people from<br />
other nations will praise it. This will happen at<br />
the time those people hear about the good<br />
things happening there. They will hear about<br />
the good things I am doing for Jerusalem.<br />
10“You people are saying, ‘Our country is<br />
an empty desert. There are no people or<br />
animals living there.’ It is now quiet in the<br />
streets of Jerusalem and in the towns of Judah.<br />
But it will be noisy there soon. 11There<br />
will be the sounds of people bringing their<br />
gifts to the Lord’s temple.* Those people will<br />
say, ‘Praise the Lord All-Powerful! The Lord<br />
is good! The Lord’s kindness continues<br />
forever!’ The people will say these things<br />
because I will again do good things to Judah.<br />
It will be like in the beginning.” The Lord<br />
said these things.<br />
12The Lord All-Powerful says, “This place<br />
is empty now. There are no people or animals<br />
living here. But there will be people in all the<br />
towns of Judah. There will be shepherds, and<br />
there will be pastures where they will let their<br />
flocks rest.<br />
will be<br />
sounds of joy and happiness. There will be the<br />
happy sounds of a bride and groom. There<br />
13Shepherds count their sheep as<br />
the sheep walk in front of them. People will<br />
be counting their sheep all around the<br />
country—in the hill-country, in the western<br />
foothills, in the Negev,* and in all the other<br />
towns of Judah.”<br />
The Good Branch<br />
14This message is from the Lord: “I made a<br />
special promise to the people of Israel and<br />
Judah. The time is coming when I will do the<br />
things I promised. 15At that time, I will make a<br />
good ‘branch’ grow from David’s family. That<br />
good ‘branch’ will do the things that are good<br />
and right for the country. 16At the time of this<br />
‘branch,’ the people of Judah will be saved.<br />
The people will live safely in Jerusalem. The<br />
branch’s name is: ‘The Lord is Good.’”<br />
17The Lord says, “A person from David’s<br />
family will always sit on the throne and rule<br />
the family of Israel. 18And there will always<br />
be priests from the family of Levi. Those<br />
priests will always stand before me and offer<br />
burnt offerings and sacrifice grain offerings<br />
and give sacrifices to me.”<br />
19This message from the Lord came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. 20The Lord says, “I have an<br />
agreement with day and night. I agreed that<br />
they will continue forever. You can’t change<br />
that agreement. Day and night will always<br />
come at the right time. If you could change<br />
that agreement, 21then you could change my<br />
Agreement with David and Levi. Then<br />
courtyard An area around the king’s house.<br />
palace(s) A large house for the king and his family.<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
Negev The desert area south of Judah.
descendants* from David would not be the<br />
kings and the family of Levi would not be<br />
priests. 22But I will give many descendants to<br />
my servant David and to the family group of<br />
Levi. They will be as many as the stars in the<br />
sky—no person can count all those stars. And<br />
they will be as many as the pieces of sand on<br />
the seashore—no person can count those<br />
pieces of sand.”<br />
23<strong>Jeremiah</strong> received this message from the<br />
Lord: 24“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, have you heard what the<br />
people are saying? Those people are saying,<br />
‘The Lord turned away from the two families<br />
of Israel and Judah. The Lord chose those<br />
people, but now he does not even accept them<br />
as a nation.’”<br />
25The Lord says, “If my agreement with<br />
day and night does not continue, and if I<br />
didn’t make the laws for the sky and earth,<br />
then maybe I would leave those people.<br />
26Then maybe I would turn away from<br />
Jacob’s* descendants.* And then maybe I<br />
would not let David’s descendants rule over<br />
the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and<br />
Jacob. But David is my servant. And I will be<br />
kind to those people. And I will again cause<br />
good things to happen to those people.”<br />
A Warning to Zedekiah King of Judah<br />
The message from the Lord came to<br />
34<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. The message came at the<br />
time when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,<br />
was fighting against Jerusalem and all the<br />
towns around it. Nebuchadnezzar had with<br />
him all his army and the armies of all the<br />
kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled.<br />
2This was the message: “This is what the<br />
Lord, the God of the people of Israel, says:<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go to Zedekiah king of Judah and<br />
give him this message: ‘Zedekiah, this is what<br />
the Lord says: I will give the city of Jerusalem<br />
to the king of Babylon very soon, and he will<br />
burn it down. 3Zedekiah, you will not escape<br />
from the king of Babylon. You will surely be<br />
caught and given to him. You will see the<br />
king of Babylon with your own eyes. He will<br />
talk to you face to face, and you will go to<br />
descendants A person’s children and their future families.<br />
Jacob’s Another name for Israel. See Gen. 32:22–28.<br />
909 JEREMIAH 33:22–34:13<br />
Babylon. 4But listen to the promise of the<br />
Lord, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what<br />
the Lord says about you: You will not be<br />
killed with a sword. 5You will die in a<br />
peaceful way. People made funeral fires to<br />
honor your ancestors,* the kings that ruled<br />
before you became king. In the same way,<br />
people will make a funeral fire to honor you.<br />
They will cry for you. They will sadly say,<br />
“Oh, master!” I myself make this promise to<br />
you.’” This message is from the Lord.<br />
6So <strong>Jeremiah</strong> gave the message from the<br />
Lord to Zedekiah in Jerusalem. 7This was<br />
while the army of the king of Babylon was<br />
fighting against Jerusalem. The army of<br />
Babylon was also fighting against the cities of<br />
Judah that had not been captured. Those cities<br />
were Lachish and Azekah. These were the<br />
only fortified cities left in the land of Judah.<br />
The People Break One of their Agreements<br />
8King Zedekiah had made an agreement<br />
with all the people in Jerusalem to give<br />
freedom to all the Hebrew slaves. A message<br />
from the Lord came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> after<br />
Zedekiah had made that agreement. 9Every<br />
person was supposed to free his Hebrew<br />
slaves. All male and female Hebrew slaves<br />
were to be set free. No one was supposed to<br />
keep another person from the family group of<br />
Judah in slavery. 10So all the leaders of Judah<br />
and all the people accepted this agreement.<br />
Every person would free their male and<br />
female slaves and no longer keep them as<br />
slaves. Every person agreed, and so all the<br />
slaves were set free. 11But after that,* the<br />
people that had slaves changed their minds.<br />
So they took the people they had set free and<br />
made them slaves again.<br />
12Then the message from the Lord came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>: 13<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, this is what the Lord,<br />
the God of the people of Israel, says: “I<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
after that In the summer of 588 B.C., the Egyptian army came<br />
to help the people of Jerusalem, and the Babylonian army had<br />
to leave Jerusalem briefly to fight the Egyptians. The people<br />
of Jerusalem thought that God had helped them, and that<br />
things were back to normal, so they didn’t keep their promise.<br />
They took the slaves that they had set free back into slavery.
JEREMIAH 34:14–35:5 910<br />
brought your ancestors* out of the land of<br />
Egypt, where they were slaves. When I did<br />
that, I made an Agreement with them. 14I said<br />
to your ancestors: ‘At the end of every seven<br />
years, each person must set his Hebrew slaves<br />
free. If you have a fellow Hebrew that has<br />
sold himself to you, you must let him go free<br />
after he has served you for six years.’ But<br />
your ancestors didn’t listen to me or pay<br />
attention to me. 15A short time ago, you<br />
changed your hearts to do what is right. Each<br />
of you gave freedom to his fellow Hebrews<br />
that were slaves. And you even made an<br />
agreement before me in the temple* that is<br />
called by my name. 16But now, you have<br />
changed your minds. You have shown you<br />
don’t honor my name. How did you do this?<br />
Each of you has taken back the male and<br />
female slaves that you had set free. You have<br />
forced them to become slaves again.<br />
17“So this is what the Lord says: ‘You<br />
people have not obeyed me. You have not<br />
given freedom to your fellow Hebrews.<br />
Because you have not kept the agreement, I<br />
will give “freedom.”’ This is the message of<br />
the Lord. ‘(I will give) “freedom” to be killed<br />
by swords, by terrible sicknesses, and by<br />
hunger! I will make you become something<br />
that terrifies all the kingdoms of the earth,<br />
when they hear about you. 18I<br />
The bodies of those people will become food<br />
for the birds of the air and for the wild<br />
animals of the earth.<br />
will hand over<br />
the men that broke my Agreement, and have<br />
not kept the promises they made before me.<br />
These men cut a calf into two pieces before<br />
me and walked between the two pieces.*<br />
19These are the people that walked between<br />
the two pieces of the calf when they made the<br />
Agreement before me: the leaders of Judah<br />
and Jerusalem, the important officials of the<br />
court, the priests, and the people of the land.<br />
20So I will give those people to their enemies<br />
and to every person that wants to kill them.<br />
21I will give Zedekiah<br />
king of Judah, and his leaders to their enemies<br />
and to every person that wants to kill them. I<br />
will give Zedekiah and his people to the army<br />
of the king of Babylon, even though that army<br />
has left Jerusalem.* 22But I will give the<br />
order,’ this message is from the Lord, ‘to<br />
bring the Babylonian army back to Jerusalem.<br />
That army will fight against Jerusalem. They<br />
will capture it and set it on fire and burn it<br />
down. And I will destroy the cities in the land<br />
of Judah. Those cities will become empty<br />
deserts. No people will live there.’”<br />
The Good Example of the Recabite Family<br />
During the time when Jehoiakim was<br />
35king of Judah, the message from the<br />
Lord came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. Jehoiakim was the<br />
son of King Josiah. This was the message<br />
from the Lord: 2“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go to the Recabite<br />
family.* Invite them to come to one of the<br />
side rooms of the temple* of the Lord. Offer<br />
them wine to drink.”<br />
3So I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>) went to get Jaazaniah.*<br />
Jaazaniah was the son of a man named<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,* that was the son of a man named<br />
Habazziniah. And I got all of Jaazaniah’s<br />
brothers and sons. I got the whole family of<br />
the Recabites together. 4Then I brought the<br />
Recabite family into the temple of the Lord.<br />
We went into the room called the room of the<br />
sons of Hanan. Hanan was the son of a man<br />
named Igdaliah. Hanan was a man of God.*<br />
The room was next to the room where the<br />
princes of Judah stay. It was over the room of<br />
Maaseiah son of Shallum. Maaseiah was the<br />
doorkeeper in the temple. 5Then I (<strong>Jeremiah</strong>)<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
These men … two pieces This is part of a ceremony people<br />
used when they made an important agreement. An animal was<br />
cut into two pieces. The people that were making the<br />
agreement would walk between the pieces. Then they would<br />
say something like, “I hope this same thing happens to me if I<br />
don’t keep the agreement.” See Gen. 15.<br />
left Jerusalem An army from Egypt came to help the people of<br />
Jerusalem in the summer of 588 B.C. So the Babylonian army<br />
left Jerusalem for a short time to fight them. See Jer. 37:5. See<br />
also the footnote to Jer. 34:11.<br />
Recabite family A group of people descended from Jonadab<br />
son of Recab. The family was very loyal to the Lord. See<br />
2 Kings 10:15–28 for the story of Jonadab.<br />
Jaazaniah He was the head of the Recabite family at that time.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Not the prophet <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, but a different man of the<br />
same name.<br />
man of God This is usually an honorable title for a prophet. We<br />
know nothing else about Hanan.
put some bowls full of wine with some cups<br />
in front of the Recabite family. And I said to<br />
them, “Drink some wine.”<br />
6But the Recabite people answered, “We<br />
never drink wine. We never drink it because<br />
our ancestor* Jonadab son of Recab, gave us<br />
this command: ‘You and your descendants*<br />
must never drink wine. 7Also, you must never<br />
build houses, plant seeds, or plant vineyards.<br />
You must never do any of those things. You<br />
must live only in tents. If you do that, then you<br />
will live a long time in the land where you<br />
move from place to place.’ 8So, we Recabite<br />
people have obeyed everything our ancestor<br />
Jonadab commanded us. We never drink wine.<br />
And our wives, sons, and daughters never<br />
drink wine. 9We never build houses to live in.<br />
And we never own vineyards or fields. And<br />
we never plant crops. 10We have lived in tents<br />
and have obeyed everything our ancestor<br />
Jonadab commanded us. 11But when<br />
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked the<br />
country of Judah, we did go into Jerusalem.<br />
We said to each other, ‘Come, we must enter<br />
the city of Jerusalem, so that we can escape<br />
the Babylonian army and the Aramean army.’<br />
So we have stayed in Jerusalem.”<br />
12Then the message from the Lord came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>: 13The Lord All-Powerful, the God<br />
of Israel, says: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go and tell this<br />
message to the men of Judah and to the<br />
people of Jerusalem: You people should learn<br />
a lesson and obey my message.” This<br />
message is from the Lord. 14“Jonadab son of<br />
Recab ordered his sons not to drink wine, and<br />
that command has been obeyed. Until today,<br />
the descendants* of Jonadab obeyed their<br />
ancestor’s* command. They don’t drink wine.<br />
But I am the Lord. And I have given you<br />
people of Judah messages again and again,<br />
but you didn’t obey me. 15I sent my servants<br />
the prophets to you people of Israel and<br />
Judah. I sent them to you again and again.<br />
Those prophets said to you, ‘Each of you<br />
people of Israel and Judah must stop doing<br />
evil things. You must be good. Don’t follow<br />
ancestor Literally, “father,” meaning a person that people are<br />
descended from.<br />
descendants A person’s children and their future families.<br />
911 JEREMIAH 35:6–36:6<br />
other gods. Don’t worship or serve them. If<br />
you obey me, then you will live in the land I<br />
have given to you and your ancestors.’ But<br />
you people have not paid attention to my<br />
message. 16The descendants of Jonadab<br />
obeyed the commands that their ancestor gave<br />
them. But the people of Judah have not<br />
obeyed me.”<br />
17So the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of<br />
Israel, says: “I said many bad things would<br />
happen to Judah and Jerusalem. I will soon<br />
make all those bad things happen. I spoke to<br />
those people, but they refused to listen. I<br />
called out to them, but they didn’t answer me.”<br />
18Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to the family of the<br />
Recabite people, “The Lord All-Powerful, the<br />
God of Israel, says, ‘You people have obeyed<br />
the commands of your ancestor* Jonadab.<br />
You have followed all of Jonadab’s teachings.<br />
You have done everything he commanded.<br />
19So the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel,<br />
says: There will always be a descendant* of<br />
Jonadab son of Recab to serve me.’”<br />
King Jehoiakim Burns <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s Scroll<br />
The message from the Lord came to<br />
36<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. This was during the fourth<br />
year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king of<br />
Judah. This was the message from the Lord:<br />
2“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, get a scroll* and write on it all the<br />
messages I have spoken to you. I have spoken<br />
to you about the nations of Israel and Judah<br />
and all the nations. Write all the words that I<br />
have spoken to you from the time that Josiah<br />
was king, until now. 3Maybe the family of<br />
Judah will hear what I am planning to do to<br />
them. And maybe they will stop doing bad<br />
things. If they will do that, I will forgive them<br />
for the bad sins they have done.”<br />
4So <strong>Jeremiah</strong> called a man named Baruch.<br />
Baruch was the son of Neriah. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> spoke<br />
the messages the Lord had given him. While<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> spoke, Baruch wrote those messages<br />
on the scroll.* 5Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to Baruch,<br />
“I can’t go to the Lord’s temple. I am not<br />
allowed to go there. 6So I want you to go to<br />
scroll(s) A long roll of leather or papyrus (paper) used for<br />
writing books, letters, and legal documents.
JEREMIAH 36:7–23<br />
912<br />
the temple of the Lord. Go there on a day of<br />
fasting* and read to the people from the scroll.<br />
Read to the people the messages from the<br />
Lord that you wrote on the scroll as I spoke<br />
them to you. Read those messages to all the<br />
people of Judah that come into Jerusalem<br />
from the towns where they live. 7Perhaps<br />
those people will ask the Lord to help them.<br />
Perhaps each person will stop doing bad<br />
things. The Lord has announced that he is<br />
very angry with those people.” 8So Baruch<br />
son of Neriah did everything <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the<br />
prophet told him to do. Baruch read aloud the<br />
scroll that had the Lord’s messages written on<br />
it. He read it in the Lord’s temple.<br />
9In the ninth month of the fifth year that<br />
Jehoiakim was king, a fast* was announced. All<br />
the people that lived in the city of Jerusalem,<br />
and everyone that had come into Jerusalem<br />
from the towns of Judah were supposed to fast<br />
before the Lord. 10At that time, Baruch read the<br />
scroll* that contained <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s words. He<br />
read the scroll in the temple of the Lord. Baruch<br />
read the scroll to all the people that were in the<br />
Lord’s temple. Baruch was in the room of<br />
Gemariah in the upper courtyard when he read<br />
from the scroll. That room was located at the<br />
entrance of the New Gate of the temple.<br />
Gemariah was the son of Shaphan. Gemariah<br />
was a scribe* in the temple.<br />
11A man named Micaiah heard all the<br />
messages from the Lord that Baruch read from<br />
the scroll.* Micaiah was the son of Gemariah,<br />
the son of Shaphan. 12When<br />
and all the other royal officials were there too.<br />
13Micaiah told those officials everything he<br />
had heard Baruch read from the scroll.<br />
14Then all those officials sent a man named<br />
Jehudi to Baruch. Jehudi was the son of<br />
Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was<br />
Micaiah heard the<br />
messages from the scroll, he went down to the<br />
secretary’s room in the king’s palace. All of the<br />
royal officials were sitting there in the king’s<br />
palace. These are the names of those officials:<br />
Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of<br />
Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Acbor, Gemariah<br />
the son of Cushi. Jehudi said to Baruch,<br />
“Bring the scroll* that you read from and<br />
come with me.”<br />
Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and<br />
went with Jehudi to the officials.<br />
15Then those officials said to Baruch, “Sit<br />
down and read the scroll to us.”<br />
So Baruch read the scroll to them.<br />
16Those royal officials heard all the<br />
messages from the scroll.* Then they became<br />
afraid, and they looked at one another. They<br />
said to Baruch, “We must tell King Jehoiakim<br />
about these messages on the scroll.”<br />
son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah;<br />
17Then<br />
the officials asked Baruch a question. They<br />
said, “Tell us, Baruch, where did you get<br />
these messages that you wrote on the scroll?<br />
Did you write down the things <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
spoke to you?”<br />
18“Yes,” Baruch answered. “<strong>Jeremiah</strong> spoke,<br />
and I wrote down all the messages with ink on<br />
this scroll.*”<br />
19Then the royal officials said to Baruch,<br />
“You and <strong>Jeremiah</strong> must go and hide. Don’t<br />
tell anyone where you are hiding.”<br />
20Then the royal officials put the scroll* in<br />
the room of Elishama the scribe. They went to<br />
King Jehoiakim and told him all about the<br />
scroll.<br />
21So King Jehoiakim sent Jehudi to get the<br />
scroll.* Jehudi brought the scroll from the<br />
room of Elishama the scribe. Then Jehudi<br />
read the scroll to the king and all of the<br />
servants that stood around the king. 22The<br />
time this happened was in the ninth month,*<br />
so King Jehoiakim was sitting in the winter<br />
apartment. There was a fire burning in a<br />
small fireplace in front of the king. 23Jehudi<br />
began to read from the scroll. But whenever<br />
he would read two or three columns, King<br />
Jehoiakim would grab the scroll. Then he<br />
would cut those columns off of the scroll<br />
fast(ing) Living without food for a special time of prayer and<br />
worship to God.<br />
scroll A long roll of leather or papyrus (paper) used for writing<br />
books, letters, and legal documents.<br />
scribe A man that wrote down and copied books and letters. He<br />
often become an expert at the meaning of those writings<br />
(Scriptures). ninth month This was in November or December.
with a small knife and throw them into the<br />
fireplace. Finally, the whole scroll was<br />
burned in the fire. 24And, when King<br />
Jehoiakim and his servants heard the message<br />
from the scroll, they were not afraid. They<br />
didn’t tear their clothes to show sorrow for<br />
doing wrong.<br />
25Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah tried to<br />
talk King Jehoiakim into not burning the<br />
scroll * But the king would not listen to them.<br />
26And King Jehoiakim commanded some men<br />
to arrest Baruch the scribe* and <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the<br />
prophet. Those men were Jerahmeel, a son of<br />
the king, Seraiah son of Azriel, and<br />
Shelemiah son of Abdeel. But those men<br />
could not find Baruch and <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, because<br />
the Lord had hidden them.<br />
27The message from the Lord came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. This happened after King<br />
Jehoiakim burned the scroll* that had<br />
contained all the messages from the Lord.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> had spoken to Baruch, and Baruch<br />
had written the messages on the scroll. This<br />
was the message from the Lord that came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>:<br />
28“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, get another scroll.* Write all<br />
the messages on it that were on the first scroll.<br />
That is the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah<br />
burned. 29<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, also say this to Jehoiakim<br />
king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says:<br />
Jehoiakim, you burned that scroll. You said,<br />
“Why did <strong>Jeremiah</strong> write that the king of<br />
Babylon will surely come and destroy this<br />
land? Why did he say that the king of<br />
Babylon will destroy both men and animals in<br />
this land?” 30So, this is what the Lord says<br />
about Jehoiakim king of Judah: Jehoiakim’s<br />
descendants* will not sit on David’s throne.<br />
When Jehoiakim dies, he will not get a king’s<br />
funeral, but his body will be thrown out on<br />
the ground. His body will be left out in the<br />
heat of the day and the cold frost of the night.<br />
31I, the Lord, will punish Jehoiakim and his<br />
scroll A long roll of leather or papyrus (paper) used for writing<br />
books, letters, and legal documents.<br />
scribe A man that wrote down and copied books and letters. He<br />
often become an expert at the meaning of those writings<br />
(Scriptures).<br />
descendants A person’s children and their future families.<br />
913 JEREMIAH 36:24–37:8<br />
children. And I will punish his officials. I will<br />
do this because they are wicked. I have<br />
promised to bring terrible disasters on them<br />
and on all the people that live in Jerusalem<br />
and on the people from Judah. I will bring all<br />
the bad things on them, just as I promised,<br />
because they have not listened to me.’”<br />
32Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> took another scroll* and<br />
gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe.*<br />
As <strong>Jeremiah</strong> spoke, Baruch wrote on the<br />
scroll the same messages that were on the<br />
scroll that King Jehoiakim had burned in the<br />
fire. And many other words like those<br />
messages were added to the second scroll.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Is Put in Prison<br />
Nebuchadnezzar was the king of<br />
37Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar appointed<br />
Zedekiah as king of Judah in the place of<br />
Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. Zedekiah was a<br />
son of King Josiah. 2But Zedekiah did not pay<br />
attention to the messages the Lord had given<br />
to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet to preach. And<br />
Zedekiah’s servants and the people of Judah<br />
did not pay attention to the Lord’s messages.<br />
3King Zedekiah sent a man named Jehucal<br />
and the priest Zephaniah to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the<br />
prophet with a message. Jehucal was the son<br />
of Shelemiah. The priest Zephaniah was the<br />
son of Maaseiah. This was the message they<br />
brought to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>: “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, pray to the<br />
Lord our God for us.”<br />
4(At that time, <strong>Jeremiah</strong> had not yet been put<br />
into prison, so he was free to go anywhere he<br />
wanted. 5Also at that time, Pharaoh’s army had<br />
marched from Egypt toward Judah. The<br />
Babylonian army had surrounded the city of<br />
Jerusalem, in order to defeat it. Then they had<br />
heard about the army from Egypt marching<br />
toward them. So the army from Babylon had left<br />
Jerusalem to fight with the army from Egypt.)<br />
6The message from the Lord came to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet: 7“This is what the Lord,<br />
the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘Jehucal<br />
and Zephaniah, I know that Zedekiah king of<br />
Judah, sent you to me to ask questions. Tell<br />
this to King Zedekiah: Pharaoh’s army<br />
marched out of Egypt to come here to help<br />
you against the army of Babylon. But<br />
Pharaoh’s army will go back to Egypt. 8After
JEREMIAH 37:9–38:4 914<br />
that, the army from Babylon will come back<br />
here. They will attack Jerusalem. Then that<br />
army from Babylon will capture and burn<br />
Jerusalem.’ 9This is what the Lord says:<br />
‘People of Jerusalem, don’t fool yourselves.<br />
Don’t say to yourselves, “The army of<br />
Babylon will surely leave us alone.” They will<br />
not. 10People of Jerusalem, even if you could<br />
defeat all of the Babylonian army that is<br />
attacking you, there would still be a few<br />
wounded men left in their tents. Even those<br />
few wounded men would come out of their<br />
tents and burn Jerusalem down.’”<br />
11When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem<br />
to fight the army of the Pharaoh of Egypt,<br />
12<strong>Jeremiah</strong> wanted to travel from Jerusalem to<br />
the land of Benjamin.* He was going there to<br />
attend a division of some property that<br />
belonged to his family. 13But when <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
got to the Benjamin Gate of Jerusalem,* the<br />
captain in charge of the guards arrested him.<br />
The captain’s name was Irijah. Irijah was the<br />
son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of<br />
Hananiah. So Irijah the captain arrested<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> and said, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you are leaving<br />
us to join the Babylonian side.”<br />
14<strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to Irijah, “That is not true. I<br />
am not leaving to join the Babylonians.” But<br />
Irijah refused to listen to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. And Irijah<br />
arrested <strong>Jeremiah</strong> and took him to the royal<br />
officials of Jerusalem. 15Those officials were<br />
very angry with <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. They gave an order<br />
for <strong>Jeremiah</strong> to be beaten. Then they put<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> in a prison. The prison was in the<br />
house of a man named Jonathan. Jonathan was<br />
a scribe* for the king of Judah. Jonathan’s<br />
house had been made into a prison. 16Those<br />
17Then King Zedekiah sent for <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
and had him brought to the king’s house.<br />
Zedekiah talked to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> in private. He<br />
asked <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, “Is there any message from<br />
the Lord?”<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> answered, “Yes, there is a<br />
message from the Lord. Zedekiah, you will be<br />
given to the king of Babylon.”<br />
people put <strong>Jeremiah</strong> into a cell under the<br />
house of Jonathan. That cell was in a<br />
dungeon* under the ground. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was<br />
there for a long time.<br />
18Then<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to King Zedekiah, “What have I<br />
done wrong? What crime have I done against<br />
you or your officials or the people of<br />
Jerusalem? Why have you thrown me into<br />
prison? 19King Zedekiah, where are your<br />
prophets now? Those prophets preached a<br />
false message to you. They said, ‘The king of<br />
Babylon will not attack you or this land of<br />
Judah.’ 20But now, my lord, king of Judah,<br />
please listen to me. Please let me bring my<br />
request to you. This is what I ask: Don’t send<br />
me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe.<br />
If you send me back, I will die there.”<br />
21So King Zedekiah gave orders for<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> to be put under guard in the<br />
courtyard. And he ordered that <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
should be given bread from the street bakers.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> was given bread until there was no<br />
more bread in the city. So <strong>Jeremiah</strong> stayed<br />
under guard in the courtyard.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Is Thrown into a Cistern<br />
Some of the royal officials heard what<br />
38<strong>Jeremiah</strong> was preaching. They were:<br />
Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of<br />
Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and<br />
Pashhur son of Malkijah. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was telling<br />
all the people this message: 2“This is what the<br />
Lord says: ‘Everyone that stays in Jerusalem<br />
will die by a sword, or hunger, or terrible<br />
sickness. But everyone that surrenders to the<br />
army of Babylon will live. Those people will<br />
escape with their lives.’ 3And this is what the<br />
Lord says: ‘This city of Jerusalem will surely<br />
be given to the army of the king of Babylon.<br />
He will capture this city.’”<br />
4Then those royal officials that heard the<br />
things <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was telling the people went to<br />
King Zedekiah. They said to the king,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong> must be put to death. He is making<br />
the soldiers that are still in the city become<br />
discouraged. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> is discouraging<br />
the land of Benjamin <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was going to his home town,<br />
Anathoth, which was in the land of Benjamin.<br />
Benjamin Gate of Jerusalem This gate led out of Jerusalem to<br />
the road which went north to the land of Benjamin.<br />
scribe A man that wrote down and copied books and letters. He<br />
often become an expert at the meaning of those writings<br />
(Scriptures).<br />
dungeon A deep pit in the ground, like a cave, used as a prison.
everyone by the things he is saying. <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
does not want good to happen to us. He wants<br />
to ruin the people of Jerusalem.”<br />
5So King Zedekiah said to those officials,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong> is in your control. I can’t do<br />
anything to stop you.”<br />
6So those officials took <strong>Jeremiah</strong> and put<br />
him into Malkijah’s cistern.* (Malkijah was<br />
the king’s son.) That cistern was in the temple<br />
yard where the king’s guard stayed. Those<br />
officials used ropes to lower <strong>Jeremiah</strong> into the<br />
cistern. The cistern didn’t have any water in it,<br />
but only mud. And <strong>Jeremiah</strong> sank down into<br />
the mud.<br />
7But a man named Ebed Melech heard that<br />
those officials had put <strong>Jeremiah</strong> into the<br />
cistern.* Ebed Melech was a man from<br />
Ethiopia, and he was a eunuch* in the king’s<br />
house. King Zedekiah was sitting at the<br />
Benjamin Gate. So Ebed Melech left the<br />
king’s house and went to talk to the king at<br />
that gate. 8–9Ebed Melech said, “My lord and<br />
king, those officials have acted in a wicked<br />
way. They have treated <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet<br />
wickedly. They have thrown him into a<br />
cistern. They have left him there to die.”*<br />
10Then King Zedekiah gave a command to<br />
Ebed Melech, the Ethiopian. This was the<br />
command: “Ebed Melech, take three* men<br />
from the king’s house with you. Go and lift<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> out of the cistern before he dies.”<br />
11So Ebed Melech took the men with him.<br />
But first he went to a room under the storeroom<br />
in the king’s house. He took some old rags and<br />
worn-out clothes from that room. Then he let<br />
those rags down with some ropes to <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
in the cistern.* 12Ebed Melech, the Ethiopian,<br />
said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, “Put these old rags and wornout<br />
clothes under your arms. When we pull you<br />
out, these rags will pad your underarms. Then<br />
the ropes will not hurt you.” So <strong>Jeremiah</strong> did as<br />
Ebed Melech said. 13Those men pulled<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> up with the ropes and lifted him out<br />
cistern A deep hole in the ground used to store water.<br />
eunuch A man that had his sexual organs removed. Often<br />
important officials of the king were eunuchs.<br />
They have left him there to die Literally, “He will starve to<br />
death because there is no more bread in the city.”<br />
three Some Hebrew copies have “30.”<br />
915 JEREMIAH 38:5–22<br />
of the cistern. And <strong>Jeremiah</strong> stayed under<br />
guard in the temple yard.<br />
Zedekiah Asks <strong>Jeremiah</strong> Some Questions<br />
14Then King Zedekiah sent someone to get<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet. He had <strong>Jeremiah</strong> brought<br />
to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord.<br />
Then the king said, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, I am going to<br />
ask you something. Don’t hide anything from<br />
me, but tell me everything honestly.”<br />
15<strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to Zedekiah, “If I give you<br />
an answer, you will probably kill me. And<br />
even if I did give you advice, you would not<br />
listen to me.”<br />
16But King Zedekiah secretly swore an<br />
oath to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. Zedekiah said, “The Lord<br />
gives us breath and life. As surely as the Lord<br />
lives I will not kill you, <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. And I<br />
promise not to give you to those officials that<br />
want to kill you.”<br />
17Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to King Zedekiah,<br />
“The Lord God All-Powerful is the God of<br />
Israel. The Lord says, ‘If you surrender to the<br />
officials of the king of Babylon, your life will<br />
be saved and Jerusalem will not be burned<br />
down. And you and your family will live.<br />
18But if you refuse to surrender then Jerusalem<br />
will be given to the Babylonian army. They<br />
will burn Jerusalem down, and you will not<br />
escape from them.’”<br />
19But King Zedekiah said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, “But<br />
I am afraid of the men of Judah that have<br />
already gone over to the side of the Babylonian<br />
army. I am afraid that the soldiers will give me<br />
to those men of Judah and they will treat me<br />
badly and hurt me.”<br />
20But <strong>Jeremiah</strong> answered, “The soldiers<br />
will not give you to those men of Judah. King<br />
Zedekiah, obey the Lord by doing what I tell<br />
you. Then things will go well for you, and<br />
your life will be saved. 21But if you refuse to<br />
surrender to the army of Babylon, the Lord<br />
has shown me what will happen. This is what<br />
the Lord has told me: 22All the women that<br />
are left in the house of the king of Judah will<br />
be brought out. They will be brought to the<br />
important officials of the king of Babylon.<br />
Your women will make fun of you with a<br />
song. This is what the women will say:
JEREMIAH 38:23–39:13 916<br />
‘Your good friends led you the wrong way<br />
and were stronger than you.<br />
Those were friends that you trusted.<br />
Your feet are stuck in the mud.<br />
Your friends have left you.’<br />
23All your wives and children will be<br />
brought out. They will be given to the<br />
Babylonian army. You yourself will not<br />
escape from the army of Babylon. You will be<br />
captured by the king of Babylon, and<br />
Jerusalem will be burned down.”<br />
24Then Zedekiah said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, “Don’t<br />
tell any person that I have been talking to you.<br />
If you do, you might die. 25Those officials<br />
might find out that I talked to you. Then they<br />
will come to you and say, ‘<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, tell us<br />
what you said to King Zedekiah. And tell us<br />
what King Zedekiah said to you. Be honest<br />
with us and tell us everything, or we will kill<br />
you.’ 26If they say this to you, then tell them, ‘I<br />
was begging the king not to send me back to<br />
the cell in the dungeon* under Jonathan’s<br />
house. If I were to go back there, I would die.’”<br />
27It happened that those royal officials of the<br />
king did come to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> to question him. So<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> told them everything the king had<br />
ordered him to say. Then those officials left<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> alone. No person had heard what<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> and the king had talked about.<br />
28So <strong>Jeremiah</strong> stayed under guard in the<br />
temple yard until the day Jerusalem was<br />
captured.<br />
The Fall of Jerusalem<br />
This is how Jerusalem was captured:<br />
39During the tenth month of the ninth year<br />
that Zedekiah was king of Judah,<br />
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched<br />
against Jerusalem with his whole army. He<br />
surrounded the city to defeat it. 2And on the<br />
ninth day of the fourth month in Zedekiah’s<br />
eleventh year, the wall of Jerusalem was broken<br />
through. 3Then<br />
a very high official; Nebo Sarsekim, another<br />
very high official; and various other important<br />
officials were there also.<br />
4Zedekiah king of Judah saw those officials<br />
from Babylon, so he and the soldiers with him<br />
ran away. They left Jerusalem at night. They<br />
went out through the king’s garden and out<br />
through the gate that was between the two walls.<br />
Then they went toward the desert.<br />
all the royal officials of the king<br />
of Babylon came into the city of Jerusalem.<br />
They came in and sat down at the Middle Gate.<br />
These are the names of those officials: Nergal-<br />
Sharezer, the governor of the district of Samgar,<br />
5The<br />
Babylonian army chased Zedekiah and the<br />
soldiers with him. Those soldiers caught up with<br />
Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured<br />
Zedekiah and took him to Nebuchadnezzar, the<br />
king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar was at the<br />
town of Riblah, in the land of Hamath. At that<br />
place, Nebuchadnezzar decided what to do to<br />
Zedekiah. 6There at the town of Riblah, the king<br />
of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons, while<br />
Zedekiah watched. And Nebuchadnezzar killed<br />
all the royal officials of Judah while Zedekiah<br />
watched. 7Then Nebuchadnezzar tore out<br />
Zedekiah’s eyes. He put bronze chains on<br />
Zedekiah and took him to Babylon.<br />
8The army of Babylon set fire to the king’s<br />
house and the houses of the people of<br />
Jerusalem. And they broke down the walls of<br />
Jerusalem. 9A man named Nebuzaradan was<br />
the commander of the king of Babylon’s<br />
special guards. He took the people that were<br />
left in Jerusalem and made them captives. He<br />
carried them away to Babylon. Nebuzaradan<br />
also made those people of Jerusalem captives<br />
that had surrendered to him earlier. He made<br />
all the others of the people of Jerusalem<br />
captives and carried them away to Babylon.<br />
10But Nebuzaradan, the commander of the<br />
special guards, left some of the poor people of<br />
Judah behind. Those were the people that<br />
owned nothing. So on that day, Nebuzaradan<br />
gave those poor people of Judah vineyards<br />
and fields.<br />
11But Nebuchadnezzar gave some orders to<br />
Nebuzaradan about <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. Nebuzaradan<br />
was the commander of Nebuchadnezzar’s<br />
special guards. These were the orders: 12“Find<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> and take care of him. Don’t hurt<br />
him. Give him whatever he asks for.”<br />
13So Nebuzaradan, the commander of the<br />
king’s special guards, Nebushazban, a chief<br />
officer in the army of Babylon, Nergal-<br />
dungeon A deep pit in the ground, like a cave, used as a prison.
Sharezer, a high official, and all the other<br />
officers of the army of Babylon sent for<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. 14Those men had <strong>Jeremiah</strong> taken<br />
out of the temple yard where he had been<br />
under the guard of the king of Judah. Those<br />
officers of the army of Babylon turned<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> over to Gedaliah.* Gedaliah was the<br />
son of Ahikam. Ahikam was the son of<br />
Shaphan. Gedaliah had orders to take<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> back home. So <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was taken<br />
home, and he stayed among his own people.<br />
A Message from the Lord to Ebed-Melech<br />
15While the guards were watching <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
in the temple yard, a message from the Lord<br />
came to him. This was the message:<br />
16“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, go and tell Ebed-Melech,* the<br />
man from Ethiopia, this message: ‘This is what<br />
the Lord Almighty, the God of the people of<br />
Israel, says: Very soon I will make my<br />
messages about this city of Jerusalem come<br />
true. My messages will come true through<br />
disaster and not good things. You will see<br />
everything come true with your own eyes.<br />
17But I will save you on that day, Ebed-<br />
Melech.’ This is the message of the Lord. ‘You<br />
won’t be given to the people you are afraid of.<br />
18I will save you, Ebed-Melech. You won’t die<br />
from a sword, but you will escape and live.<br />
That will happen because you have trusted in<br />
me.’” This message is from the Lord.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Is Set Free<br />
The message from the Lord came to<br />
40<strong>Jeremiah</strong> after he was set free at the city<br />
of Ramah. Nebuzaradan, the commander of<br />
the king of Babylon’s special guards, found<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> in Ramah. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> was bound with<br />
chains. He was with all the captives from<br />
Jerusalem and Judah. Those captives were<br />
being taken away in captivity to Babylon.<br />
2When commander Nebuzaradan found<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, he spoke to him. He said, “<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
the Lord, your God, announced that this<br />
disaster would come to this place. 3And now<br />
the Lord has done everything just as he said he<br />
Gedaliah Gedaliah was the man that Nebuchadnezzar<br />
appointed as his governor for the land of Judah.<br />
Ebed-Melech See <strong>Jeremiah</strong> 38:7–13.<br />
917 JEREMIAH 39:14–40:10<br />
would do. This disaster happened because you<br />
people of Judah sinned against the Lord. You<br />
people didn’t obey the Lord. 4But now,<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, I will set you free. I am taking the<br />
chains off your wrists. If you want to, come<br />
with me to Babylon, and I will take good care<br />
of you. But if you don’t want to come with<br />
me, then don’t come. Look, the whole country<br />
is open to you. Go anywhere you want. 5Or go<br />
back to Gedaliah* son of Ahikam, the son of<br />
Shaphan. The king of Babylon has chosen<br />
Gedaliah to be governor over the towns of<br />
Judah. Go and live with Gedaliah among the<br />
people. Or you can go anywhere you want.”<br />
Then Nebuzaradan gave <strong>Jeremiah</strong> some<br />
food and a present and let him go. 6So<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at<br />
Mizpah. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> stayed with Gedaliah<br />
among the people that were left behind in the<br />
land of Judah.<br />
The Short Rule of Gedaliah<br />
7There were some soldiers from the army<br />
of Judah, officers and their men, still out in<br />
the open country when Jerusalem was<br />
destroyed. Those soldiers heard that the king<br />
of Babylon had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam<br />
in charge of the people that were left in the<br />
land. The people that were left were men,<br />
women, and children that were very poor and<br />
were not carried off to Babylon as captives.<br />
8So those soldiers came to Gedaliah at<br />
Mizpah. Those soldiers were: Ishmael son of<br />
Nethaniah, Johanan, and his brother Jonathan,<br />
sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth,<br />
sons of Ephai from Netophah, and Jaazaniah<br />
son of the Maacathite, and the men that were<br />
with them.<br />
9Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan,<br />
made an oath to make those soldiers and their<br />
men feel more secure. This is what Gedaliah<br />
said: “You soldiers, don’t be afraid to serve<br />
the Babylonian people. Settle down in the land<br />
and serve the king of Babylon. If you do this,<br />
things will go well for you. 10I, myself, will<br />
live in Mizpah. I will speak for you before the<br />
Chaldean people that come here. You people<br />
Or … Gedaliah Or, “Before Gedaliah goes back, return<br />
to him …”
JEREMIAH 40:11–41:10 918<br />
leave that work to me. You should harvest the<br />
wine, the summer fruit, and the oil. Put what<br />
you harvest in your storage jars. Live in the<br />
towns that you have taken control of.”<br />
11All the people of Judah that were in the<br />
countries of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and all the<br />
other countries heard that the king of Babylon<br />
had left some people of Judah in the land. And<br />
they heard that the king of Babylon had<br />
chosen Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of<br />
Shaphan, to be governor over them. 12When<br />
those people of Judah heard that news, they<br />
came back to the land of Judah. They came<br />
back to Gedaliah at Mizpah from all the<br />
countries where they had been scattered. So<br />
they came back and gathered a large harvest<br />
of wine and summer fruit.<br />
13Johanan son of Kareah and all the officers<br />
of the army of Judah that were still in the open<br />
country came to Gedaliah. Gedaliah was at the<br />
town of Mizpah. 14Johanan and those officers<br />
with him said to Gedaliah, “Do you know that<br />
Baalis, the king of the Ammonite people,<br />
wants to kill you? He has sent Ishmael son of<br />
Nethaniah to kill you.” But Gedaliah son of<br />
Ahikam didn’t believe them.<br />
15Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to<br />
Gedaliah in private at Mizpah. Johanan said to<br />
Gedaliah, “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of<br />
Nethaniah. No person will know anything<br />
about it. We should not let Ishmael kill you.<br />
That would cause all the people of Judah that<br />
are gathered around you to be scattered to<br />
different countries again. And that would mean<br />
that the few survivors of Judah would be lost.”<br />
16But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to<br />
Johanan son of Kareah, “Don’t kill Ishmael.<br />
The things you are saying about Ishmael are<br />
not true.”<br />
In the seventh month, Ishmael son of<br />
41Nethaniah (the son of Elishama) came<br />
to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael came<br />
with ten of his men. Those men came to the<br />
town of Mizpah. Ishmael was a member of the<br />
king’s family. He had been one of the officers<br />
of the king of Judah. Ishmael and his men ate<br />
a meal with Gedaliah. 2While<br />
Babylon had chosen to be governor of Judah.<br />
3Ishmael also killed all the men of Judah that<br />
were with Gedaliah at the town of Mizpah.<br />
Ishmael also killed the Babylonian soldiers<br />
that were there with Gedaliah.<br />
4–5The day after Gedaliah was murdered, 80<br />
men came to Mizpah. They were bringing<br />
grain offerings and incense* to the Lord’s<br />
temple.* Those 80 men had shaved off their<br />
beards, torn their clothes, and cut themselves.*<br />
They came from Shechem, Shiloh, and<br />
Samaria. None of these men knew that<br />
Gedaliah had been murdered.<br />
they were<br />
eating together, Ishmael and his ten men got<br />
up and killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam with a<br />
sword. Gedaliah was the man that the king of<br />
6Ishmael left<br />
Mizpah and went to meet those 80 men. He<br />
cried* while he walked out to meet them.<br />
Ishmael met those 80 men and said, “Come<br />
with me to meet with Gedaliah son of<br />
Ahikam.” 7–8As soon as they were in the city,<br />
Ishmael and the men with him began to kill<br />
the 80 men and throw them into a deep<br />
cistern!* But ten of the men said to Ishmael,<br />
“Don’t kill us! We have hidden some things in<br />
a field. We have wheat and barley, and oil and<br />
honey. {We will give those things to you!}” So<br />
Ishmael stopped and didn’t kill them with the<br />
others. 9(Ishmael threw the dead bodies into<br />
the cistern until it was full—and that cistern<br />
was very big! It had been built by a king of<br />
Judah named Asa. King Asa had made the<br />
cistern so that during war there would be<br />
water in the city.* Asa did this to protect his<br />
city from Baasha, the king of Israel.)<br />
10Ishmael captured all the other people in<br />
the town of Mizpah and started to cross over<br />
to the country of the Ammonite people.<br />
(Those people included the king’s daughters,<br />
and all the other people that were left there.<br />
Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king of<br />
incense Special dried tree sap. Burned to make a sweetsmelling<br />
smoke, it was offered as a gift to God.<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
shaved … cut themselves The men did this to show that they<br />
were sad about the destruction of the Lord’s temple in<br />
Jerusalem.<br />
He cried Ishmael was acting like he was sad about the<br />
destruction of the temple.<br />
cistern A deep hole in the ground used to store water.<br />
King Asa … city King Asa lived about 300 years before the<br />
time of Gedaliah. See 1 Kings 15:22 for the story about Asa<br />
building defenses for Mizpah.
Babylon’s special guards, had chosen<br />
Gedaliah to watch over those people.)<br />
11Johanan son of Kareah and all the army<br />
officers that were with him, heard about all<br />
the evil things Ishmael had done. 12So<br />
Johanan and the army officers with him took<br />
their men and went to fight Ishmael son of<br />
Nethaniah. They caught Ishmael near the big<br />
pool of water that is at the town of Gibeon.<br />
13The captives* that Ishmael had taken<br />
captive saw Johanan and the army officers.<br />
Those people became very happy. 14Then all<br />
those people that Ishmael had taken captive at<br />
the town of Mizpah ran to Johanan son of<br />
Kareah. 15But Ishmael and eight of his men<br />
escaped from Johanan. They ran away to the<br />
Ammonite people.<br />
16So Johanan son of Kareah and all his<br />
army officers rescued the captives.* Ishmael<br />
had murdered Gedaliah and then he had taken<br />
those people from Mizpah. Among the<br />
survivors* were soldiers, women, children,<br />
and court officials. Johanan brought them<br />
back from the town of Gibeon.<br />
The Escape to Egypt<br />
17–18Johanan and the other army officers<br />
were afraid of the Chaldeans.* The king of<br />
Babylon had chosen Gedaliah to be governor<br />
of Judah. But Ishmael murdered Gedaliah,<br />
and Johanan was afraid that the Chaldeans<br />
would be angry. So they decided to run away<br />
to Egypt. On the way to Egypt, they stayed at<br />
Geruth Kimham. Geruth Kimham is near the<br />
town of Bethlehem.<br />
While they were at Geruth Kimham,<br />
42<br />
Johanan and a man named Jezaniah son<br />
of Hoshaiah went to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet. All<br />
the army officers went with Johanan and<br />
Jezaniah. All the people, from the least<br />
important to the most important person, went<br />
to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. 2All those people said to him,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, please listen to what we ask. Pray to<br />
the Lord your God for all these people that are<br />
captives People that were taken away like prisoners.<br />
survivors People that escaped some disaster.<br />
Chaldeans The Chaldeans were the family group to which King<br />
Nebuchadnezzar belonged. They were the group that<br />
controlled the land of Babylon at this time.<br />
919 JEREMIAH 41:11–42:15<br />
survivors* from the family of Judah. <strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
you can see that there are not many of us left.<br />
At one time there were many of us. 3<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
pray that the Lord your God will tell us where<br />
we should go and what we should do.”<br />
4Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet answered, “I<br />
understand the things you want me to do. I<br />
will pray to the Lord your God, like you<br />
asked me to do. I will tell you everything the<br />
Lord says. I will not hide anything from you.”<br />
5Then those people said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>, “If we<br />
don’t do everything the Lord your God tells<br />
us, then we hope the Lord will be a true and<br />
faithful witness against us. We know the Lord<br />
your God will send you to tell us what to do.<br />
6It does not matter if we like the message or if<br />
we don’t like the message. We will obey the<br />
Lord our God. We are sending you to the<br />
Lord for a message from him. We will obey<br />
what he says. Then good things will happen to<br />
us. Yes, we will obey the Lord our God.”<br />
7At the end of ten days, the message from<br />
the Lord came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>. 8Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
called together Johanan son of Kareah and the<br />
army officers that were with him. <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
also called all the other people together, from<br />
the least important to the most important<br />
person. 9Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to them, “This is<br />
what the Lord, the God of the people of Israel,<br />
says. You sent me to him. I asked the Lord<br />
what you wanted me to ask. This is what the<br />
Lord says: 10‘If you people will stay in Judah,<br />
Iwill make you strong—I will not destroy<br />
you. I will plant you, and I will not pull you<br />
up. I will do this because I am sad about the<br />
terrible things that I made happen to you.<br />
11Now you are afraid of the king of Babylon.<br />
But don’t be afraid of him. Don’t be afraid of<br />
the king of Babylon,’ this is the message of the<br />
Lord, ‘because I am with you. I will save you.<br />
I will rescue you. He will not get his hands on<br />
you. 12I will be kind to you. And the king of<br />
Babylon will also treat you with mercy. And<br />
he will bring you back to your land.’ 13But you<br />
might say, ‘We will not stay in Judah.’ If you<br />
say that, you will disobey the Lord your God.<br />
14And you might say, ‘No, we will go and live<br />
in Egypt. We will not be bothered with war in<br />
that place. We will not hear the trumpets of<br />
war. And in Egypt we will not be hungry.’ 15If
JEREMIAH 42:16–43:11<br />
you say those things, then listen to the message<br />
of the Lord, you survivors* from Judah. This is<br />
what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the<br />
people of Israel, says: ‘If you decide to go to<br />
live in Egypt, then these things will happen:<br />
16You are afraid of the sword of war, but it<br />
will defeat you there. And you are worried<br />
about hunger, but you will be hungry in Egypt.<br />
You will die there. 17Every person that decides<br />
to go live in Egypt will die by a sword, or<br />
hunger, or terrible sickness. Not one person<br />
that goes to Egypt will survive. Not one of<br />
them will escape the terrible things that I will<br />
bring to them.’<br />
18“The Lord All-Powerful, the God of the<br />
people of Israel, says: ‘I showed my anger<br />
against Jerusalem. I punished the people that<br />
lived in Jerusalem. In the same way, I will show<br />
my anger against every person that goes to<br />
Egypt. People will use you as an example when<br />
they ask for bad things to happen to other<br />
people. You will become like a curse word.<br />
People will be ashamed of you. People will<br />
insult you. And you will never see Judah again.’<br />
19“Survivors* of Judah, the Lord told you:<br />
‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ I warn you right now, 20you<br />
people are making a mistake that will cause your<br />
deaths. You people sent me to the Lord your<br />
God. You said to me, ‘Pray to the Lord our God<br />
for us. Tell us everything the Lord says to do.<br />
We will obey the Lord.’ 21So today, I have told<br />
you the message from the Lord. But you have<br />
not obeyed the Lord your God. You have not<br />
done all that he sent me to tell you to do. 22So<br />
now, be sure you understand this: You people<br />
want to go live in Egypt. But these things will<br />
happen to you in Egypt: You will die by a<br />
sword, or hunger, or terrible sickness.”<br />
So <strong>Jeremiah</strong> finished telling the people<br />
43the message from the Lord their God.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> told them everything that the Lord<br />
had sent him to tell the people.<br />
2Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of<br />
Kareah, and some other men were proud and<br />
stubborn. Those people became angry at<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>. Those men said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, you are lying! The Lord our God<br />
survivors People that escaped some disaster.<br />
920<br />
didn’t send you to say to us, ‘You people<br />
must not go to Egypt to live there.’ 3<strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
we think that Baruch son of Neriah is<br />
encouraging you to be against us. He wants<br />
you to give us to the Babylonian people. He<br />
wants you to do this so they can kill us. Or he<br />
wants you to do this so that they can make us<br />
captives* and carry us to Babylon.”<br />
4So Johanan, the army officers, and all the<br />
people disobeyed the Lord’s command. The<br />
Lord had commanded them to stay in Judah.<br />
5But instead of obeying the Lord, Johanan<br />
and the army officers took those survivors*<br />
from Judah to Egypt. In the past, the enemy<br />
had taken those survivors to other countries.<br />
But they had come back to Judah. 6Now,<br />
Johanan and all the army officers took all the<br />
men, women, and children and led them to<br />
Egypt. Among those people were the king’s<br />
daughters. (Nebuzaradan had put Gedaliah in<br />
charge of those people. Nebuzaradan was the<br />
commander of the king of Babylon’s special<br />
guards.) Johanan also took <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the<br />
prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. 7Those<br />
people didn’t listen to the Lord. So all those<br />
people went to Egypt. They went to the town<br />
of Tahpanhes.*<br />
8In the town of Tahpanhes, <strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
received this message from the Lord:<br />
9“<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, get some large stones. Take them<br />
and bury them in the clay and brick sidewalk in<br />
front of Pharaoh’s official building in<br />
Tahpanhes. Do this while the men of Judah are<br />
watching you. 10Then say to those men of<br />
Judah that are watching you: ‘This is what the<br />
Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: I<br />
will send for Nebuchadnezzar, the king of<br />
Babylon, to come here. He is my servant. And<br />
I will set his throne over these stones I have<br />
buried here. Nebuchadnezzar will spread his<br />
canopy* above these stones. 11Nebuchadnezzar<br />
will come here and attack Egypt. He will bring<br />
death to those that are to die. He will bring<br />
captivity to those that are to be taken captive.<br />
And he will bring the sword to those that are to<br />
captives People that were taken away like prisoners.<br />
Tahpanhes A town in northeastern Egypt.<br />
canopy A temporary covering used for shade. It is like a tent<br />
without sides.
e killed with a sword. 12Nebuchadnezzar will<br />
start a fire in the temples of the false gods of<br />
Egypt. He will burn those temples and he will<br />
take those idols away. A shepherd picks the<br />
bugs and stickers off of his clothes to make<br />
them clean. In the same way, Nebuchadnezzar<br />
will pick Egypt clean. Then he will safely<br />
leave Egypt. 13Nebuchadnezzar will destroy<br />
the memorial stones* that are in the temple of<br />
the Sun God* in Egypt. And he will burn down<br />
the temples of the false gods of Egypt.’”<br />
The Lord’s Messages to the People<br />
of Judah in Egypt<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> received a message from the<br />
44Lord. This message was for all the<br />
people of Judah living in Egypt. The message<br />
was for the people of Judah living in the towns<br />
of Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and southern<br />
Egypt. This was the message: 2The Lord All-<br />
Powerful, the God of Israel, says, “You people<br />
saw the terrible happenings that I brought on<br />
the city of Jerusalem and on all the towns of<br />
Judah. Those towns are empty piles of stones<br />
today. 3Those places were destroyed because<br />
the people living in them did evil things.<br />
Those people gave sacrifices to other gods —<br />
and that made me angry! Your people and<br />
your ancestors* did not worship those gods in<br />
the past. 4I sent my prophets to those people<br />
again and again. Those prophets were my<br />
servants. Those prophets spoke my message<br />
and said to the people, ‘Don’t do this terrible<br />
thing. I hate for you to worship idols.’ 5But<br />
those people didn’t listen to the prophets.<br />
They didn’t pay attention to those prophets.<br />
Those people didn’t stop doing wicked things.<br />
They didn’t stop making sacrifices to other<br />
gods. 6So, I showed my anger against those<br />
people. I punished the towns of Judah and the<br />
streets of Jerusalem. My anger made<br />
Jerusalem and the towns of Judah the empty<br />
piles of stone they are today.”<br />
921 JEREMIAH 43:12–44:14<br />
7So, the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of<br />
Israel, says: “Why are you hurting yourselves<br />
by continuing to worship idols? You are<br />
separating the men and women, the children<br />
and babies from the family of Judah. And so<br />
you leave yourselves without any survivors*<br />
from the family of Judah. 8Why do you people<br />
want to make me angry by making idols? Now<br />
you are living in Egypt. And now you are<br />
making me angry by offering sacrifices to the<br />
false gods of Egypt. You people will destroy<br />
yourselves. It will be your own fault. You will<br />
make yourselves something that people of<br />
other nations will speak evil of. And all the<br />
other nations on the earth will make fun of you.<br />
9Have you forgotten about the wicked things<br />
your ancestors* did? And have you forgotten<br />
about the wicked things the kings and queens<br />
of Judah did? Have you forgotten about the<br />
wicked things you and your wives did in Judah<br />
and in the streets of Jerusalem? 10Even to this<br />
day, the people of Judah have not made<br />
themselves humble. They have not shown any<br />
respect for me. And those people have not<br />
followed my teachings. They have not obeyed<br />
the laws I gave you and your ancestors.*”<br />
11So, this is what the Lord All-Powerful,<br />
the God of Israel, says: “I have decided to<br />
make terrible things happen to you. I will<br />
destroy the whole family of Judah. 12There<br />
were a few survivors* from Judah. Those<br />
people came here to Egypt. But I will destroy<br />
those few survivors from the family of Judah.<br />
They will be killed with swords or die from<br />
hunger. They will be something that people of<br />
other nations will speak evil about. Other<br />
nations will be afraid at what happened to<br />
those people. Those people will become a<br />
curse word. Other nations will insult those<br />
people of Judah. 13I will punish those people<br />
that have gone to live in Egypt. I will use<br />
swords, hunger, and terrible sicknesses to<br />
punish them. I will punish those people just<br />
like I punished the city of Jerusalem. 14Not<br />
one of the few survivors of Judah that have<br />
gone to live in Egypt will escape my<br />
punishment. None of them will survive to<br />
memorial stones Stones that were set up to help people<br />
remember something special. In ancient Israel, people often<br />
set up stones as special places to worship false gods.<br />
Sun God This was the most important god in Egypt.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from. survivors People that escaped some disaster.
JEREMIAH 44:15–28<br />
922<br />
come back to Judah. Those people want to<br />
come back to Judah and live there. But not<br />
one of those people will go back to Judah,<br />
except maybe a few people that escape.”<br />
15Many of the women of Judah that lived in<br />
Egypt were making sacrifices to other gods.<br />
Their husbands knew it, but didn’t stop them.<br />
There was a large group of people of Judah<br />
meeting together. They were the people of<br />
Judah that were living in southern Egypt. The<br />
husbands of those women that were making<br />
sacrifices to other gods said to <strong>Jeremiah</strong>,<br />
16“We will not listen to the message from the<br />
Lord that you spoke to us. 17We promised to<br />
make sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven.* And<br />
we will do everything we promised. We will<br />
offer sacrifices and pour out drink offerings in<br />
worship to her. We did that in the past. And<br />
our ancestors, our kings, and our officials did<br />
that in the past. All of us did those things in<br />
the towns of Judah and in the streets of<br />
Jerusalem. At the time we worshiped the<br />
Queen of Heaven, we had plenty of food. We<br />
were successful. Nothing bad happened to us.<br />
18But then we stopped making sacrifices to the<br />
Queen of Heaven. And we stopped pouring<br />
out drink offerings to her. Since we have<br />
stopped doing those things in worship to her,<br />
we have had problems. Our people have been<br />
killed by swords and hunger.”<br />
19Then the women spoke up.* They said to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, “Our husbands knew what we were<br />
doing. We had their permission to make<br />
sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven. We had<br />
their permission to pour out drink offerings to<br />
her. Our husbands also knew that we were<br />
making cakes that looked like her.”<br />
20Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> spoke to all those men and<br />
women. He spoke to the people that had just<br />
said those things. 21<strong>Jeremiah</strong><br />
streets of Jerusalem. You and your ancestors,*<br />
your kings, your officials, and the people of<br />
the land did that. The Lord remembered what<br />
you had done, and thought about that.<br />
said to those<br />
people, “The Lord remembered that you made<br />
sacrifices in the towns of Judah and in the<br />
22Then<br />
the Lord could not be patient with you any<br />
longer. The Lord hated the terrible things you<br />
did. So the Lord made your country an empty<br />
desert. No person lives there now. Other<br />
people say bad things about that country. 23All<br />
of those bad things happened to you because<br />
you made sacrifices to other gods. You sinned<br />
against the Lord. You didn’t obey the Lord.<br />
You didn’t follow his teachings or the laws he<br />
gave you. You didn’t keep your part of the<br />
Agreement.”*<br />
24Then <strong>Jeremiah</strong> spoke to all those men and<br />
women. <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said, “All you people of<br />
Judah that are now in Egypt, listen to the<br />
message from the Lord: 25The Lord All-<br />
Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says:<br />
‘You women did what you said you would do.<br />
You said, “We will keep the promises we<br />
made. We promised to make sacrifices and pour<br />
out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.*”<br />
So, go ahead. Do the things you promised you<br />
would do. Keep your promises. 26But, listen to<br />
the message from the Lord, all you people of<br />
Judah that are living in Egypt: ‘I use my great<br />
name and make this promise: I promise none of<br />
the people of Judah that are now living in Egypt<br />
will ever again use my name to make promises.<br />
They will never again say, “As surely as the<br />
Lord lives,” 27I am watching over those people<br />
of Judah. But I am not watching over them to<br />
take care of them. I am watching over them to<br />
hurt them. The people of Judah that live in<br />
Egypt will die from hunger and be killed by<br />
swords. They will continue to die until they are<br />
finished. 28Some people of Judah will escape<br />
being killed by the sword. They will come back<br />
to Judah from Egypt. But there will be very few<br />
people of Judah that escape. Then those<br />
survivors* of Judah that came to live in Egypt<br />
Queen of Heaven Probably the false god Astarte. She was the<br />
goddess of sex and war. People in Mesopotamia worshiped<br />
her. They thought she was the planet Venus, which looks like<br />
a star in the sky.<br />
Then the women spoke up This is from the ancient Greek<br />
translation. The Hebrew does not have this sentence.<br />
ancestors Literally, “fathers,” meaning a person’s parents,<br />
grandparents, and all the people they are descended from.<br />
Agreement This is probably the Law of Moses, the Agreement<br />
between God and the people of Israel.<br />
survivors People that escaped some disaster. Here this means<br />
the Jewish people that survived the destruction of Judah and<br />
Israel by its enemy armies.
will know whose word will come true. They<br />
will know whether my word or their word came<br />
true. 29I will give you people proof’—this is the<br />
message of the Lord—‘that I will punish you<br />
here in Egypt. Then you will know for sure that<br />
my promises to hurt you will really happen.<br />
30This will be your proof that I will do what I<br />
say.’ This is what the Lord says: ‘Pharaoh<br />
Hophra is the king of Egypt. His enemies want<br />
to kill him. I will give Pharaoh Hophra to his<br />
enemies. Zedekiah was the king of Judah.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar was Zedekiah’s enemy. And I<br />
gave Zedekiah to his enemy. In the same way, I<br />
will give Pharaoh Hophra to his enemy.’”<br />
A Message to Baruch<br />
Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah. In the<br />
45fourth year Jehoiakim was king of<br />
Judah,* <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet told these things<br />
to Baruch son of Neriah. Baruch wrote these<br />
things on a scroll.* This is what <strong>Jeremiah</strong> said<br />
to Baruch: 2“This is what the Lord, the God<br />
of Israel, says to you: 3‘Baruch, you have<br />
said: It is very bad for me. The Lord has given<br />
me sorrow along with my pain. I am very<br />
tired. I am worn out because of my suffering.<br />
I can’t find rest.’ 4<strong>Jeremiah</strong>, say this to<br />
Baruch: ‘This is what the Lord says: I will<br />
tear down what I have built. And I will pull<br />
up what I have planted. I will do that<br />
everywhere in Judah. 5Baruch, you are<br />
looking for great things for yourself. But<br />
don’t look for those things. Don’t look for<br />
them, because I will make terrible things<br />
happen to all the people.’ The Lord said these<br />
things. ‘You will have to go many places. But<br />
I will let you escape alive wherever you go.’”<br />
Messages from the Lord About the Nations<br />
These messages came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the<br />
46prophet. These messages are about<br />
different nations.<br />
Messages About Egypt<br />
2This message is about the nation of Egypt.<br />
This message is about the army of Pharaoh<br />
Neco. Neco was the king of Egypt. His army<br />
fourth year … Judah This was about 605 B.C.<br />
scroll A long roll of leather or papyrus (paper) used for writing<br />
books, letters, and legal documents.<br />
923 JEREMIAH 44:29–46:10<br />
was defeated at the town of Carchemish.<br />
Carchemish is on the Euphrates River.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated the<br />
army of Pharaoh Neco at Carchemish in the<br />
fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of<br />
Judah.* Jehoiakim was the son of King<br />
Josiah. This is the Lord’s message to Egypt:<br />
3 “Get your large and small shields ready.<br />
March out for battle.<br />
4 Get the horses ready.<br />
Soldiers, get on your horses.<br />
Go to your places for battle.<br />
Put your helmets on.<br />
Sharpen your spears.<br />
Put your armor on.<br />
5 What do I see?<br />
That army is scared.<br />
The soldiers are running away.<br />
Their brave soldiers are defeated.<br />
They run away in a hurry.<br />
They don’t look back.<br />
There is danger all around.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
6 “Fast men can’t run away.<br />
Strong soldiers can’t escape.<br />
They will all stumble and fall.<br />
This will happen in the north,<br />
by the Euphrates River.<br />
7 Who is coming like the Nile River?<br />
Who is coming like that strong, fast river?<br />
8 It is Egypt that comes<br />
like the rising Nile River.<br />
It is Egypt that comes<br />
like that strong, fast river.<br />
Egypt says,<br />
‘I will come and cover the earth.<br />
I will destroy the cities<br />
and the people in them.’<br />
9 Horse soldiers, charge into battle.<br />
Chariot drivers, drive fast.<br />
March on, brave soldiers.<br />
Soldiers from Cush and Put,<br />
carry your shields.<br />
Soldiers from Lydia,<br />
use your bows.<br />
10 “But at that time, our Master,<br />
the Lord All-Powerful, will win.<br />
At that time, he will give the punishment<br />
that they deserve.
JEREMIAH 46:11–24<br />
924<br />
The Lord’s enemies will get the punishment He will be great like Mount Tabor<br />
that they should have.<br />
The sword will kill until it is finished.<br />
The sword will kill until it satisfies<br />
its thirst for blood.<br />
This will happen because there is a sacrifice<br />
for our Master, the Lord All-Powerful.<br />
That sacrifice is {Egypt’s army}<br />
in the land of the north,<br />
19<br />
and Mount Carmel near the sea.<br />
People of Egypt, pack your things.<br />
Get ready for captivity.<br />
Why? Because Memphis will be<br />
a ruined, empty land.<br />
Those cities will be destroyed,<br />
and no person will live there.<br />
by the Euphrates River.<br />
20 “Egypt is like a beautiful cow.<br />
11<br />
12<br />
“Egypt, go to Gilead and get some medicine.<br />
You will make up many medicines,<br />
but they will not help.<br />
You will not be healed.<br />
The nations will hear you crying.<br />
Your cries will be heard all over the earth.<br />
One ‘brave soldier’ will run into another<br />
‘brave soldier.’<br />
21<br />
But a horsefly* is coming<br />
from the north*<br />
to bother her.<br />
The hired soldiers in Egypt’s army<br />
are like fat calves.<br />
They will all turn and run away.<br />
They will not stand strong<br />
against the attack.<br />
And both ‘brave soldiers’<br />
Their time of destruction is coming.<br />
will fall down together.”<br />
They will soon be punished.<br />
13This is the message the Lord spoke to<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet. This message is about<br />
Nebuchadnezzar coming to attack Egypt.<br />
14 “Announce this message in Egypt.<br />
Tell it in the city of Migdol.<br />
Tell it in Memphis and Tahpanhes.<br />
‘Get ready for war.<br />
22 Egypt is like a snake hissing<br />
and trying to escape.<br />
The enemy comes closer and closer,<br />
and the Egyptian army is trying<br />
to slither away (escape).<br />
The enemy will attack Egypt with axes,<br />
like men cutting down trees.”<br />
15<br />
16<br />
17<br />
Why? Because people all around you<br />
are being killed with swords.’<br />
Egypt, your strong soldiers will be killed.<br />
They won’t be able to stand<br />
because the Lord will push them down.<br />
Those soldiers will stumble again and again.<br />
They will fall over each other.<br />
They will say,<br />
‘Get up, let us go back to our own people.<br />
Let us go back to our homeland.<br />
Our enemy is defeating us.<br />
We must get away.’<br />
In their homelands, those soldiers will say,<br />
‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only<br />
a lot of noise.<br />
His time of glory is over.’”<br />
23<br />
24<br />
The Lord says these things.<br />
“They will chop down Egypt’s<br />
forest (army).<br />
There are many trees (soldiers)<br />
in that forest (army)<br />
but they will all be cut down.<br />
There are more enemy soldiers<br />
than locusts.*<br />
There are so many soldiers,<br />
that no person can count them.<br />
Egypt will be ashamed.<br />
The enemy from the north<br />
will defeat her.<br />
18 This message is from the King.<br />
The King is the Lord All-Powerful.<br />
“I promise, as surely as I live,<br />
a powerful leader} will come.<br />
horsefly A large insect that often flies around and bites cows<br />
and horses.<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.<br />
locusts Insects like grasshoppers that could destroy a large crop<br />
very quickly.
25The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel,<br />
says: “Very soon I will punish Amon,* the<br />
god of Thebes. And I will punish Pharaoh,<br />
Egypt, and her gods. I will punish the kings of<br />
Egypt. And I will punish the people that<br />
depend on Pharaoh. 26I will let all those<br />
people be defeated by their enemies—and<br />
those enemies want to kill them. I will give<br />
those people to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of<br />
Babylon, and his servants.”<br />
Long ago, Egypt lived in peace. And after<br />
all these times of trouble, Egypt will live in<br />
peace again.” The Lord said these things.<br />
A Message for North Israel<br />
27 “Jacob,* my servant, don’t be afraid.<br />
Don’t be scared, Israel.<br />
I will save you from those faraway places.<br />
I will save your children from<br />
the countries<br />
where they are captives.*<br />
Jacob will have peace and safety again.<br />
And no person will make him afraid.”<br />
28 The Lord says these things.<br />
“Jacob, my servant, don’t be afraid.<br />
I am with you.<br />
I sent you away to many different places.<br />
But I will not destroy you completely.<br />
But I will destroy all those nations.<br />
You must be punished<br />
for the bad things you did.<br />
So I won’t let you escape your<br />
punishment.<br />
I will discipline you, but I will be fair.”<br />
A Message About the Philistine People<br />
This is the message from the Lord that<br />
47came to <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet. This<br />
message is about the Philistine people. This<br />
message came before Pharaoh attacked the<br />
city of Gaza.<br />
Amon For many centuries Amon was the most important god of<br />
Egypt. At the time of this prophecy he was not worshiped as<br />
much in northern Egypt. But he was still the most important<br />
god in southern Egypt, especially around the old Egyptian<br />
capital city of Thebes.<br />
Jacob Another name for Israel. See Gen. 32:22–28.<br />
captives People that were taken away like prisoners.<br />
925 JEREMIAH 46:25–47:7<br />
2 The Lord says:<br />
“Look, {the enemy soldiers<br />
are meeting together} in the north.*<br />
They will come like a fast river<br />
spilling over its banks.<br />
They will cover the whole country<br />
like a flood.<br />
They will cover the towns<br />
and the people living in them.<br />
Everyone living in that country<br />
will cry for help.<br />
3 They will hear the sound of running horses,<br />
the noisy chariots, the rumbling wheels.<br />
Fathers won’t be able to protect<br />
their children.<br />
They will be too weak to help.<br />
4 Why? Because the time has come<br />
to destroy all the Philistine people<br />
The time has come to destroy<br />
Tyre and Sidon’s remaining helpers.<br />
The Lord will destroy the Philistine people.<br />
He will destroy the survivors<br />
from the Island of Crete.*<br />
5 The people from Gaza will be sad<br />
and shave their heads.<br />
The people from Ashkelon will be silenced.<br />
Survivors from the valley,<br />
how long will you cut yourselves?*<br />
6 “Sword of the Lord, you have not quit.<br />
How long will you keep fighting?<br />
Go back into your scabbard!*<br />
Stop! Be still!<br />
7 But how can the sword of the Lord rest?<br />
The Lord gave it a command.<br />
The Lord commanded it to attack<br />
the city of Ashkelon and the seacoast.”<br />
north This refers to the army of Babylon coming from the north<br />
to attack the nation of Judah.<br />
Island of Crete Literally, “Island of Caphtor.” Sometimes this<br />
means Crete, and sometimes it means Cyprus. The Bible says<br />
the Philistines originally came from Caphtor.<br />
sad … cut yourselves The people did these things to show their<br />
sadness.<br />
scabbard A holder for a sword.
JEREMIAH 48:1–15<br />
A Message About Moab<br />
This message is about the country of<br />
48Moab. This is what the Lord All-<br />
Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says:*<br />
“It will be bad for Mount Nebo.*<br />
Mount Nebo will be ruined.<br />
The town of Kiriathaim will be humbled.<br />
It will be captured.<br />
The strong place will be humbled.<br />
It will be shattered.<br />
2 Moab will not be praised again.<br />
Men in Heshbon will plan Moab’s defeat.<br />
They will say,<br />
‘Come, let us put an end to that nation.’<br />
Madmenah, you will also be silenced.<br />
The sword will chase you.<br />
3 Listen to the cries from Horonaim.<br />
They are cries of much confusion<br />
and destruction.<br />
4 Moab will be destroyed.<br />
Her little children will cry for help.<br />
5 Moab’s people go up the path to Luhith.<br />
They are crying bitterly as they go.<br />
On the road down to the town of Horonaim,<br />
Cries of pain and suffering can be heard.<br />
6 Run away! Run for your lives!<br />
Run away like a tumbleweed*<br />
{blowing} through the desert.<br />
7 You trust in the things you made<br />
and in your wealth.<br />
So you will be captured.<br />
The god Chemosh*<br />
will be taken into captivity.<br />
And his priests and officials<br />
will be taken with him.<br />
8 The Destroyer will come against every town.<br />
Not one town will escape.<br />
The valley will be ruined.<br />
The high plain will be destroyed.<br />
The Lord said this would happen,<br />
so it will happen.<br />
This message … says See Isa. 15 for a similar message.<br />
Mount Nebo A mountain in Moab, a country east of Israel.<br />
tumbleweed A small bush short roots that is easily blown away<br />
by the wind. In Hebrew this word is like the name “Aroer,” an<br />
important city in Moab.<br />
Chemosh The god of the people of Moab.<br />
926<br />
9 Spread salt* over the fields in Moab.<br />
The country will be an empty desert.<br />
Moab’s towns will become empty.<br />
No people will live in them.<br />
10 If a person does not do what the Lord says,<br />
if he does not use his sword<br />
to kill those people,<br />
then bad things will happen<br />
to that person.<br />
11 “Moab has never known trouble.<br />
Moab is like wine left to settle.<br />
Moab has never been poured<br />
from one jar to another.<br />
He has not been taken into captivity.<br />
So he tastes like he did before.<br />
And his smell has not changed.”<br />
12 The Lord says these things.<br />
“But I will soon send men<br />
to pour you from your jars.*<br />
Then they will empty the jars<br />
and smash them to pieces.”<br />
13Then the people of Moab will be<br />
ashamed of their false god, Chemosh.* The<br />
people of Israel trusted that {false god} in<br />
Bethel.* And the people of Israel were<br />
embarrassed {when that false god did not help<br />
them}. Moab will be like that.<br />
14 “You can’t say,<br />
‘We are good soldiers.<br />
We are brave men in battle.’<br />
15 The enemy will attack Moab.<br />
The enemy will enter those towns<br />
and destroy them.<br />
Her best young men will be killed<br />
in the slaughter.”<br />
This message is from the King.<br />
The King’s name is the Lord<br />
All Powerful.<br />
salt This is a word play, and we are not sure of the exact<br />
meaning of this Hebrew word.<br />
jars This probably means the cities in Moab.<br />
in Bethel This means the temple that King Jeroboam built in the<br />
town of Bethel. See 1 Kings 12:28–33. It is not clear whether<br />
the people still worshiped the Lord there, but in a wrong way.<br />
Or whether they worshiped a false god, perhaps the Canaanite<br />
god El or Baal.
16 “The end of Moab is near.<br />
Moab will soon be destroyed.<br />
17 All of you people living around Moab<br />
should cry for that country.<br />
You people know how famous Moab is.<br />
So cry for him.<br />
Say,<br />
‘The ruler’s power is broken.<br />
Moab’s power and glory is gone.’<br />
18 “You people living in Dibon,*<br />
come down from your place of honor.<br />
Sit on the ground in the dust.<br />
Why? Because the Destroyer is coming.<br />
And he will destroy your strong cities.<br />
19 “You people living in Aroer,<br />
stand next to the road and watch.<br />
See the man running away.<br />
See that woman running away.<br />
Ask them what happened.<br />
20 “Moab will be ruined and filled with shame.<br />
Moab will cry and cry.<br />
Announce at the Arnon River,*<br />
that Moab is destroyed.<br />
21 People on the high plain have been<br />
punished.<br />
Judgment has come to the towns of<br />
Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,<br />
22 Judgment has come to the towns of<br />
Dibon, Nebo, and Beth Diblathaim,<br />
23 Judgment has come to the towns of<br />
Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul, and Beth Meon,<br />
24 Judgment has come to the towns of<br />
Kerioth and Bozrah.<br />
Judgment has come to all the towns of<br />
Moab, far and near.<br />
25 Moab’s strength has been cut off.<br />
Moab’s arm has been broken.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
26 “Moab thought he was more important<br />
than the Lord.<br />
So punish Moab until he staggers<br />
like a drunk person.<br />
Moab will fall and roll around in his vomit.<br />
People will make fun of Moab.<br />
Dibon A town in the country of Moab.<br />
Arnon River An important river in Moab.<br />
927 JEREMIAH 48:16–35<br />
27 “Moab, you made fun of Israel.<br />
Israel was caught by a gang of thieves.<br />
Every time you spoke about Israel,<br />
you shook your head and acted like you<br />
were better than Israel.<br />
28 People in Moab, leave your towns.<br />
Go live among the rocks;<br />
be like a dove that makes its nest<br />
at the opening of a cave.”<br />
29 “We have heard about Moab’s pride.<br />
He was very proud.<br />
He thought he was important.<br />
He was always bragging.<br />
He was very, very proud.”<br />
30 The Lord says,<br />
“Iknow that Moab becomes angry quickly<br />
and brags about himself.<br />
But his boasts are lies.<br />
He can’t do the things he says.<br />
31 So, I cry for Moab.<br />
I cry for everyone in Moab.<br />
I cry for the men from Kir Hareseth.<br />
32 I cry with the people of Jazer for Jazer.<br />
Sibmah, in the past your vines<br />
spread all the way to the sea.<br />
They reached as far as the town of Jazer.<br />
But the Destroyer has taken your fruit<br />
and grapes.<br />
33 Joy and happiness are gone<br />
from the large vineyards* of Moab.<br />
I stopped the flow of wine<br />
from the winepresses.*<br />
There is no singing and dancing<br />
from people walking on the grapes<br />
to make wine.<br />
There are no shouts of joy.<br />
34“The people of the towns of Heshbon and<br />
Elealeh are crying. Their cry is heard even as<br />
far away as the town of Jahaz. Their cry is<br />
heard from the town of Zoar, as far away as<br />
the towns of Horonaim and Eglath<br />
Shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim are<br />
dried. 35I will stop Moab from making burnt<br />
vineyards A garden for growing grapes.<br />
winepresses A place for squeezing the juice from grapes.<br />
Sometimes this was only a shallow hole in a large rock in<br />
the ground.
JEREMIAH 48:36–49:2 928<br />
offerings on the high places.* I will stop them<br />
from making sacrifices to their gods.” The<br />
Lord said those things.<br />
36“I am very sad for Moab. My hearts cries<br />
like the sad sound of a flute playing a funeral<br />
song. I am sad for the people from Kir<br />
Hareseth. Their money and riches have all<br />
been taken away. 37Everyone has a shaved<br />
head. Everyone’s beard is cut off. Everyone’s<br />
hands are cut and bleeding.* Everyone is<br />
wearing their clothes of sadness around their<br />
waists. 38People are crying for the dead<br />
everywhere in Moab—on every housetop and<br />
in every public square. There is sadness<br />
because I have broken Moab like an empty<br />
jar.” The Lord said these things.<br />
39“Moab is shattered. The people are<br />
crying. Moab surrendered. Now Moab is<br />
ashamed. People make fun of Moab—but the<br />
things that happened fill them with fear.”<br />
40 The Lord says, “Look!<br />
An eagle is diving down from the sky.<br />
It is spreading its wings over Moab.<br />
41 The towns of Moab will be captured.<br />
The strong hiding places will be defeated.<br />
At that time, Moab’s soldiers will be scared,<br />
like a woman that is having a baby.<br />
42 The nation of Moab will be destroyed.<br />
Why? Because they thought<br />
that they were more important<br />
than the Lord.”<br />
45 “People have run from the powerful enemy.<br />
They ran to safety in the town Heshbon.<br />
{But there was no safety.}<br />
A fire started in Heshbon.<br />
That fire started in Sihon’s town*<br />
And it is destroying the leaders of Moab.<br />
It is destroying those proud people.<br />
46 It will be bad for you, Moab.<br />
Chemosh’s* people are being destroyed.<br />
Your sons and daughters<br />
are being taken away<br />
as prisoners and captives.*<br />
47“Moab’s people will be taken away as<br />
captives. But in days to come, I will bring<br />
Moab’s people back.” This message is from<br />
the Lord.<br />
This ends the judgment on Moab.<br />
A Message About Ammon<br />
This message is about the Ammonite<br />
49people.The Lord says:<br />
“Ammonite people, do you think that<br />
the people of Israel don’t have<br />
children?<br />
Do you think there are no children<br />
to take the land when the parents die?<br />
Maybe that is why Milcom*<br />
took Gad’s* land?”<br />
2 The Lord says,<br />
“The time will come in Rabbah of Ammon*<br />
43<br />
44<br />
The Lord says these things:<br />
“People of Moab,<br />
fear, deep holes, and traps*<br />
wait for you.<br />
People will be afraid and run away,<br />
and they will fall into the deep holes.<br />
If anyone climbs out of the deep holes,<br />
he will be caught in the traps.<br />
I will bring the year of punishment<br />
to Moab.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
when people hear the sounds of battle.<br />
Rabbah of Ammon will be destroyed.<br />
It will be an empty hill<br />
covered with destroyed buildings.<br />
And the towns around it will be burned.<br />
Those people forced the people of Israel<br />
to leave their own land.<br />
But later, Israel will force them to leave.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
high places Special places where the people worshiped false<br />
gods. These places were often on hilltops, but not always.<br />
Some ‘high places’ were in valleys.<br />
Everyone … cut and bleeding The people did these things to<br />
show their sadness for people that had died.<br />
fear, deep holes, and traps This is a word play in Hebrew. The<br />
Hebrew words are: “Pahad, Pahat, and Pah.”<br />
Sihon’s town This was Heshbon. See Numbers 21:25–30.<br />
Chemosh The national god of the land of Moab, even though<br />
Milcom was the god of the Ammonite people.<br />
captives People that were taken away like prisoners. Here this<br />
means the Moabite people.<br />
Milcom The god of the Ammonite people.<br />
Gad’s One of the family groups of Israel. Their land was on the<br />
east side of the Jordan River, near the country of Ammon.<br />
Rabbah of Ammon The capital city of the Ammonite people.
3 “People in Heshbon, cry!<br />
Why? Because the town of Ai<br />
is destroyed.<br />
Women in Rabbah of Ammon, cry!<br />
Put on your clothes of sadness and cry.<br />
Run to the city for safety.<br />
Why? {Because the enemy is coming.}<br />
They take away the god, Milcom.*<br />
And they will take away Milcom’s<br />
priests and officials.<br />
4 You brag about your strength.<br />
But you are losing your strength.<br />
You trust your money will save you.<br />
You think no one would even think of<br />
attacking you.”<br />
5 But the Lord All-Powerful says this:<br />
“I will bring troubles to you<br />
from every side.<br />
You will all run away.<br />
And no one will be able<br />
to bring you together again.”<br />
6“The Ammonite people will be taken<br />
away as captives. But the time will come that<br />
I will bring the Ammonite people back.” This<br />
message is from the Lord.<br />
A Message About Edom<br />
7This message is about Edom.<br />
The Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“Is there no more wisdom in Teman*?<br />
Are the wise men of Edom<br />
not able to give good advice?<br />
Have they lost their wisdom?<br />
8 You people living in Dedan, run away!<br />
Hide! Why? Because I will punish<br />
Esau* for the bad things he did.<br />
9 “Workers pick grapes from grapevines.<br />
But they leave a few grapes on the plants.<br />
If thieves come at night,<br />
they don’t take everything.<br />
10 But I will take everything from Esau.*<br />
I will find all of his hiding places.<br />
He will not be able to hide from me.<br />
Milcom The god of the Ammonite people.<br />
Teman This town was in the northern part of Edom.<br />
Esau Jacob’s twin brother. But here this means Edom whose<br />
people were descendants of Esau.<br />
929 JEREMIAH 49:3–18<br />
His children, relatives, and neighbors<br />
will all die.<br />
11 No person will be left<br />
to care for his children.<br />
His wives will have no one to depend on.”<br />
12This is what the Lord says, “Some people<br />
don’t deserve to be punished—but they suffer.<br />
But Edom, you deserve to be punished—so<br />
you will really be punished. You will not<br />
escape the punishment you deserve. You will<br />
be punished.” 13The Lord says, “By my own<br />
power, I make this promise: I promise that the<br />
city of Bozrah will be destroyed. That city<br />
will become a ruined pile of rocks. People<br />
will use that city as an example when they ask<br />
for bad things to happen to other cities.<br />
People will insult that city. And all the towns<br />
around Bozrah will become ruins forever.”<br />
14 I heard a message from the Lord:<br />
The Lord sent a messenger to the<br />
nations. This is the message:<br />
“Gather your armies together!<br />
Get ready for battle!<br />
March against the nation of Edom!<br />
15 Edom, I will make you become not<br />
important.<br />
Every person will hate you.<br />
16 Edom, you scared other nations.<br />
So you thought you were important.<br />
But your pride has fooled you.<br />
You live in those caves, high on the cliff.<br />
Your home is high in the hills.<br />
But even if you build your home<br />
as high as an eagle’s nest,<br />
I will bring you down from there.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
17 “Edom will be destroyed.<br />
People will be shocked<br />
to see the destroyed cities.<br />
People will whistle from amazement<br />
at the destroyed cities.<br />
18 Edom will be destroyed<br />
like Sodom and Gomorrah*<br />
and the towns around them.<br />
No people will live there.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
Sodom and Gomorrah Two cities that God destroyed because<br />
the people were so evil.
JEREMIAH 49:19–32<br />
930<br />
19“Sometimes a lion will come from the<br />
thick bushes near the Jordan River. And that<br />
lion will go into the fields where people put<br />
their sheep and cattle. I am like that lion. I<br />
will go to Edom. And I will scare those<br />
people. I will make them run away. None of<br />
their young men will stop me. No one is like<br />
me. No one will challenge me. None of their<br />
shepherds (leaders) will stand up against me.”<br />
26<br />
27<br />
So the young men will die<br />
in the public squares of that city.<br />
All of her soldiers will be killed<br />
at that time.”<br />
The Lord All-Powerful said these things.<br />
“I will set the walls of Damascus on fire.<br />
The fire will completely burn up<br />
the strong forts of Ben-Hadad.”*<br />
20<br />
21<br />
So listen to what the Lord has planned<br />
to do to the people of Edom.<br />
Listen to what the Lord has decided<br />
to do to the people in Teman.*<br />
The enemy will drag away the young kids<br />
of Edom’s flock (people).<br />
Edom’s pastures will be empty because of<br />
what they did.<br />
At the sound of Edom’s fall,<br />
the earth will shake.<br />
Their cry will be heard<br />
all the way to the Red Sea.<br />
A Message About Kedar and Hazor<br />
28This message is about the family group of<br />
Kedar and the rulers of Hazor.*<br />
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon,<br />
defeated them.<br />
The Lord says:<br />
“Goand attack the family group of Kedar.<br />
Destroy the people of the East.<br />
29 Their tents and flocks will be taken away.<br />
Their tent and all their riches<br />
will be carried off.<br />
Their enemy will take away the camels.<br />
22 The Lord will be like an eagle<br />
flying over the animal that it will attack.<br />
The Lord will be like an eagle<br />
spreading its wings over Bozrah.<br />
At that time, Edom’s soldiers<br />
will become very scared.<br />
They will be crying from fear<br />
like a woman having a baby.<br />
30<br />
Men will shout this to them:<br />
‘Terrible things are happening all around us.’<br />
Run away quickly!<br />
People in Hazor,<br />
find a good place to hide.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“Nebuchadnezzar made plans against you.<br />
He thought of a smart plan to defeat you.<br />
A Message About Damascus<br />
23This message is about the city of<br />
Damascus:<br />
“The towns of Hamath and Arpad are afraid.<br />
They are afraid<br />
because they heard the bad news.<br />
They are discouraged.<br />
They are worried and scared.<br />
24 The city of Damascus has become weak.<br />
The people want to run away.<br />
The people are ready to panic.<br />
The people feel pain and suffering<br />
like a woman having a baby.<br />
31<br />
32<br />
“There is a nation that feels safe.<br />
That nation feels secure.<br />
That nation does not have gates<br />
or fences to protect it.<br />
No people live near them.<br />
The Lord says,<br />
‘Attack that nation!’<br />
The enemy will steal their camels<br />
and take their large herds of cattle.<br />
The enemy will steal their large herds.<br />
Those people cut the corners of<br />
their beards.*<br />
25 “Damascus, is a happy city.<br />
The people have not left that<br />
‘fun city’ yet.<br />
Teman This town was in the northern part of Edom.<br />
Ben-Hadad This was the name of several of the kings of Aram-<br />
Damascus.<br />
family group of Kedar and the rulers of Hazor Kedar was the<br />
name of an Arab family group that lived in the desert<br />
southeast of the land of Judah.<br />
corners of their beards The Jewish men did not cut their<br />
beards like the Arabs did.
931 JEREMIAH 49:33–50:7<br />
Well, I will make them run away<br />
to the far corners of the earth.<br />
And I will bring terrible troubles to them<br />
from everywhere.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
A Message About Babylon<br />
This is the message the Lord spoke<br />
50about the nation of Babylon and the<br />
Babylonian people. The Lord spoke this<br />
message through <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.<br />
33 “The land of Hazor will become a place<br />
where only wild dogs live.<br />
No person will live there.<br />
No person will live in that place.<br />
It will become an empty desert forever.”<br />
A Message About Elam<br />
34Early in the time when Zedekiah was<br />
king of Judah, <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet received<br />
a message from the Lord. This message is<br />
about the nation of Elam.*<br />
2<br />
3<br />
4<br />
5<br />
“Announce this to all nations!<br />
Lift up a flag and announce the message!<br />
Speak the whole message and say,<br />
‘The nation of Babylon will be captured.<br />
The god Bel* will be put to shame.<br />
The god Marduk* will be very afraid.<br />
Babylon’s idols will be put to shame.<br />
Her idol gods will be filled with terror.’<br />
A nation from the north will attack<br />
Babylon.<br />
That nation will make Babylon<br />
like an empty desert.<br />
No people will live there.<br />
Both men and animals<br />
will run away from there.”<br />
The Lord says,<br />
“At that time, the people of Israel<br />
and the people of Judah will be together.<br />
They will cry and cry together.<br />
And together, they will go to look<br />
for the Lord their God.<br />
Those people will ask how to go to Zion.*<br />
They will start to go in that direction.<br />
The people will say,<br />
‘Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord.<br />
Let’s make an agreement<br />
that will last forever.<br />
Let’s make an agreement<br />
that we will never forget.’<br />
35 The Lord All-Powerful says,<br />
“I will break Elam’s bow very soon.<br />
The bow is Elam’s strongest weapon.<br />
36 I will bring the four winds against Elam.<br />
I will bring them from<br />
the four corners of the skies.<br />
I will send the people of Elam<br />
to every place on the earth<br />
where the four winds blow.<br />
Elam’s captives will be carried away<br />
to every nation.<br />
37 I will break Elam to pieces<br />
while their enemies are watching.<br />
I will break Elam in front of those people<br />
that want to kill them.<br />
I will bring terrible troubles to them.<br />
I will show them how angry I am.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
“I will send a sword to chase Elam.<br />
The sword will chase them<br />
until I have killed them all.<br />
38 I will show Elam that I am in control.<br />
And I will destroy her king and<br />
his officials.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
39 “But in the future, I will make good things<br />
happen to Elam.”<br />
This message is from the Lord.<br />
Elam A nation east of Babylon.<br />
6 “My people have been like lost sheep.<br />
Their shepherds (leaders)<br />
led them the wrong way,<br />
Their leaders made them wander around<br />
in the mountains and hills.<br />
They forgot where their resting place is.<br />
7 Whoever found my people hurt them.<br />
And those enemies said,<br />
‘We did nothing wrong.’<br />
Bel This is one of the names of the god Marduk, the most<br />
important god of the Babylonians.<br />
Marduk Marduk was the most important god of the<br />
Babylonians.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.
JEREMIAH 50:8–20<br />
Those people sinned against the Lord.<br />
The Lord was their true resting place.<br />
The Lord was the God<br />
that their fathers trusted in.<br />
8 “Run away from Babylon.<br />
Leave the land of the Babylonian people.<br />
Be like the goats that lead the flock.<br />
9 I will bring many nations together<br />
from the north.<br />
This group of nations will get ready<br />
for war<br />
against Babylon.<br />
Babylon will be captured by people<br />
from the north.<br />
Those nations will shoot many arrows<br />
at Babylon.<br />
Those arrows will be like soldiers<br />
that don’t come back from war<br />
with their hands empty.<br />
10 The enemy will take all the wealth<br />
from the Chaldean people.<br />
Those soldiers will take all they want.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
11 “Babylon, you are excited and happy.<br />
You took my land.<br />
You dance around like a young cow<br />
that got into the grain.<br />
Your laughter is like the happy sounds<br />
that horses make.<br />
12 Now your mother will be very ashamed.<br />
The woman that gave you birth<br />
will be embarrassed.<br />
Babylon will be the least important<br />
of all the nations.<br />
She will be an empty, dry desert.<br />
13 The Lord will show his anger,<br />
so no people will live there.<br />
Babylon will be completely empty.<br />
Everyone that passes by Babylon<br />
will be afraid.<br />
They will shake their heads when they see<br />
how badly it has been destroyed.<br />
14 “Prepare for war against Babylon.<br />
All you soldiers with bows,<br />
shoot your arrows at Babylon.<br />
Don’t save any of your arrows.<br />
Babylon has sinned against the Lord.<br />
932<br />
15 Soldiers around Babylon,<br />
shout the cry of victory!<br />
Babylon has surrendered!<br />
Her walls and towers<br />
have been pulled down!<br />
The Lord is giving those people<br />
the punishment they should have.<br />
You nations should give Babylon<br />
the punishment she deserves.<br />
Do to her what she has done<br />
to other nations.<br />
16 Don’t let the people from Babylon<br />
plant their crops.<br />
Don’t let them gather the harvest.<br />
The soldiers of Babylon<br />
brought many prisoners to their city.<br />
Now the enemy soldiers have come,<br />
So those prisoners are going<br />
back home.<br />
Those prisoners are running back<br />
to their own countries.<br />
17 “Israel is like a flock of sheep<br />
that were scattered all over the country.<br />
Israel is like sheep that were chased away<br />
by lions.<br />
The first lion to attack<br />
was the king of Assyria.<br />
The last lion to crush his bones<br />
was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.<br />
18 So the Lord All-Powerful,<br />
the God of Israel, says:<br />
‘I will soon punish the king of Babylon<br />
and his country.<br />
I will punish him<br />
like I punished the king of Assyria.<br />
19 “I will bring Israel back to his own fields.<br />
He will eat food that grows<br />
on Mount Carmel<br />
and in the land of Bashan.<br />
He will eat and be full.<br />
He will eat on the hills<br />
in the lands of Ephraim and Gilead.”<br />
20 The Lord says,<br />
“At that time, people will try hard<br />
to find Israel’s guilt.<br />
But there will be no guilt.<br />
People will try to find Judah’s sins,<br />
but no sins will be found.
Why? Because I am saving a few<br />
survivors* from Israel and Judah.<br />
And I am forgiving them<br />
for all of their sins.”<br />
21 The Lord says,<br />
“Attack the country of Merathaim!<br />
Attack the people living in Pekod!<br />
Attack them!<br />
Kill them and completely destroy them!<br />
Do everything I commanded you!<br />
22 “The noise of battle can be heard<br />
all over the country.<br />
It is the noise of much destruction.<br />
23 Babylon was called<br />
‘The Hammer of the Whole Earth.’<br />
But now the ‘Hammer’ is shattered.<br />
Babylon is the most ruined<br />
of the nations.<br />
24 Babylon, I set a trap for you.<br />
And you were caught before you<br />
knew it.<br />
You fought against the Lord,<br />
so you were found and captured.<br />
25 The Lord has opened up his storeroom<br />
and brought out the weapons of his anger.<br />
The Lord God All-Powerful<br />
brought out those weapons<br />
because he has work to do<br />
in the land of the Chaldean people.<br />
26 “Come against Babylon from far away.<br />
Break open the storehouses<br />
where she keeps her grain.<br />
Completely destroy Babylon.<br />
Don’t leave anyone alive.<br />
Pile her dead bodies like big piles of grain.<br />
27 Kill all the young bulls (men) in Babylon.<br />
Let them be slaughtered.*<br />
The time has come for them to be defeated,<br />
so it will be very bad for them.<br />
It is time for them to be punished.<br />
survivors People that escaped some disaster. Here this means<br />
the Jewish people that survived the destruction of Judah and<br />
Israel by its enemy armies.<br />
slaughter(ed) Usually, this word means to kill an animal and<br />
cut it into pieces of meat. But it often means to kill people like<br />
they are animals.<br />
933 JEREMIAH 50:21–34<br />
28 People are running out of Babylon.<br />
They are escaping from that country<br />
and coming to Zion*.<br />
They are telling everyone the good news<br />
about what the Lord is doing.<br />
The Lord is giving Babylon<br />
the punishment it deserves.<br />
The Lord is destroying Babylon,<br />
because it destroyed his temple!<br />
29 “Call for the men that shoot arrows.<br />
Tell them to attack Babylon.<br />
Tell them to surround the city.<br />
Don’t let anyone escape.<br />
Pay her back for the bad things<br />
she has done.<br />
Do to her what she has done<br />
to other nations.<br />
Babylon did not respect the Lord.<br />
Babylon was very rude<br />
to the Holy One of Israel.<br />
So punish Babylon.<br />
30 Babylon’s young men<br />
will be killed in the streets.<br />
All her soldiers will die on that day.”<br />
The Lord says these things.<br />
31 “Babylon, you are too proud.<br />
And I am against you.”<br />
Our Master, the Lord All-Powerful,<br />
says these things.<br />
“I am against you,<br />
and the time has come<br />
for you to be punished.<br />
32 Proud Babylon will stumble and fall.<br />
And no person will help her get up.<br />
I will start a fire in her towns.<br />
That fire will completely burn<br />
everyone around her.”<br />
33 The Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“The people of Israel and Judah are slaves.<br />
The enemy took them,<br />
and the enemy will not let Israel go.<br />
34 But God will get those people back.<br />
His name is the Lord God<br />
All-Powerful.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.
JEREMIAH 50:35–51:1 934<br />
He will defend those people very strongly.<br />
He will defend them so that he can let<br />
that land rest.<br />
But there will be no rest<br />
for the people living in Babylon.”<br />
42<br />
43<br />
Their armies have bows and spears.<br />
The soldiers are cruel.<br />
They have no mercy.<br />
The soldiers come riding on their horses,<br />
and the sound is loud like the roaring sea.<br />
They stand in their places, ready for battle.<br />
They are ready to attack you,<br />
city of Babylon.<br />
The king of Babylon<br />
heard about those armies.<br />
And he became very scared.<br />
He is so afraid,<br />
his hands will not move.<br />
His fear makes his stomach hurt<br />
like a woman having a baby.”<br />
35 The Lord says,<br />
“Sword, kill the people living in Babylon.<br />
Sword, kill the king’s officials<br />
and the wise men of Babylon.<br />
36 Sword, kill the priests of Babylon.<br />
Those priests will be like foolish people.<br />
Sword, kill the soldiers of Babylon.<br />
Those soldiers will be full of terror.<br />
37 Sword, kill the horses and chariots<br />
of Babylon.<br />
Sword, kill all the soldiers hired<br />
from other countries.<br />
Those soldiers will be<br />
like frightened women.<br />
Sword, destroy the treasures of Babylon.<br />
Those treasures will be taken away.<br />
38 Sword, strike the waters of Babylon.<br />
Those waters will be dried up.<br />
Babylon has many, many idols.<br />
Those idols show<br />
that the people of Babylon<br />
are foolish.<br />
So bad things will happen to those people.<br />
39 “Babylon will never again<br />
be filled with people.<br />
Wild dogs, ostriches,* and other desert<br />
animals will live there.<br />
But no people will live there ever again.<br />
40 God completely destroyed<br />
Sodom and Gomorrah*<br />
and the towns around them.<br />
{And no person lives in those towns now.}<br />
In the same way, no people<br />
will live in Babylon.<br />
And no people will ever go to live there.<br />
41 “Look!<br />
There are people coming from the north.<br />
They come from a powerful nation.<br />
Many kings are coming together<br />
from all around the world.<br />
ostriches Large birds that live in the desert.<br />
Sodom and Gomorrah Two cities that God destroyed because<br />
the people were so evil.<br />
44 {The Lord says,}<br />
“Sometimes a lion will come from<br />
the thick bushes near the Jordan River.<br />
That lion will walk into the fields<br />
where people have their animals.<br />
{and the animals will all run away.}<br />
I will be like that lion,<br />
I will chase Babylon from its land.<br />
Who should I choose to do this?<br />
There is no person like me.<br />
There is no person that can challenge me.<br />
{So I will do it.}<br />
No shepherd will come to chase me away.<br />
I will chase away the people of Babylon.”<br />
45 Listen to what the Lord has planned<br />
to do to Babylon.<br />
Listen to what the Lord has decided<br />
to do to the Babylonian people.<br />
“I swear (promise),anenemy will drag away<br />
the young kids of Babylon’s flock<br />
(people)<br />
and Babylon will become<br />
an empty pasture.<br />
46 Babylon will fall,<br />
and that fall will shake the earth.<br />
People in all nations will hear about<br />
51<br />
the destruction of Babylon.”<br />
The Lord says, “<br />
I will cause a powerful, destructive<br />
wind to blow against Babylon<br />
and the Babylonian people.*<br />
Babylonian people Literally, “Leb Kammai.” In Hebrew this<br />
was a secret way of writing “Chaldeans.”
2 I will send foreigners to winnow*<br />
Babylon,<br />
and they will take everything<br />
from the city.<br />
Armies will surround the city,<br />
and there will be terrible destruction.<br />
3 The Babylonian soldiers will not get to use<br />
their bows and arrows.<br />
Those soldiers will not even put on<br />
their armor.<br />
Don’t feel sorry for the soldiers of Babylon.<br />
Destroy her army completely!<br />
4 Babylon’s soldiers will be killed<br />
in the land of the Chaldeans.<br />
They will be badly wounded<br />
in the streets of Babylon.”<br />
5 The Lord All-Powerful<br />
did not leave Israel and Judah alone,<br />
like a woman whose husband has died.<br />
God did not leave those people.<br />
No! Those people are guilty<br />
of leaving the Holy One of Israel.<br />
They left him,<br />
but he has not left them.<br />
6 Run away from Babylon.<br />
Run to save your lives!<br />
Don’t stay and be killed<br />
because of Babylon’s sins!<br />
It is time for the Lord to punish<br />
the people of Babylon<br />
for the bad things they did.<br />
Babylon will get the punishment<br />
that she should have.<br />
7 Babylon was like a golden cup<br />
in the Lord’s hand.<br />
Babylon made the whole world drunk.<br />
The nations drank Babylon’s wine.<br />
So they went crazy.<br />
8 But Babylon will suddenly fall<br />
and be broken.<br />
Cry for her!<br />
Get medicine for her pain!<br />
Maybe she can be healed!<br />
winnow To separate grain from the hulls around it. Farmers<br />
threw the grain with the hulls into the air. The wind blew the<br />
hulls away and left the good grain.<br />
935 JEREMIAH 51:2–14<br />
9 We tried to heal Babylon,<br />
but she can’t be healed.<br />
So let us leave her,<br />
and let each of us<br />
go to our own country.<br />
God in heaven will decide<br />
Babylon’s punishment.<br />
He will decide what will happen to Babylon.<br />
10 The Lord got even for us.<br />
Come, let’s tell about that in Zion.*<br />
Let us tell about the things<br />
that the Lord our God has done.<br />
11 Sharpen the arrows!<br />
Get your shields!<br />
The Lord stirred up the kings<br />
of the Medes.*<br />
He has stirred them up<br />
because he wants to destroy Babylon.<br />
The Lord will give the people of Babylon<br />
the punishment that they deserve.<br />
The army from Babylon destroyed<br />
the Lord’s temple* in Jerusalem.<br />
So the Lord will give them<br />
the punishment they should have.<br />
12 Lift up a flag against the walls of Babylon.<br />
Bring more guards.<br />
Put the watchmen in their places.<br />
Get ready for a secret attack.<br />
The Lord will do what he has planned.<br />
He will do what he said he would do<br />
against the people of Babylon.<br />
13 Babylon, you live near much water.<br />
You are rich with treasures.<br />
But your end as a nation has come.<br />
It is time for you to be destroyed.<br />
14 The Lord All-Powerful used his name<br />
to make this promise:<br />
“Babylon, I will fill you<br />
with many enemy soldiers.<br />
They will be like a swarm of locusts.*<br />
They will win their war against you.<br />
And they will stand over you<br />
and shout the cry of victory.”<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
Medes People from the Medo-Persian Empire. This empire<br />
defeated the country Babylon.<br />
temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.<br />
locusts Insects like grasshoppers that could destroy a large crop<br />
very quickly.
JEREMIAH 51:15–30<br />
15 The Lord used his great power<br />
and made the earth.<br />
He used his wisdom to build the world.<br />
He used his understanding<br />
to stretch out the skies.<br />
16 When he thunders,<br />
the water in the skies roar.<br />
He sends clouds all over the earth.<br />
He sends lightning with the rain.<br />
He brings out the wind<br />
from his storehouses.<br />
17 But people are so stupid.<br />
They don’t understand what God<br />
has done.<br />
Skilled workers make statues of false gods.<br />
Those statues are only false gods.<br />
They show how foolish that worker is.<br />
Those statues are not alive.<br />
18 Those idols are worthless.<br />
People made those idols,<br />
and they are nothing but a joke.<br />
Their time of judgment will come,<br />
and those idols will be destroyed.<br />
19 But Jacob’s Portion (God) is not like those<br />
worthless statues.<br />
People didn’t make God,<br />
God made his people.<br />
God made everything.<br />
His name is the Lord All-Powerful.<br />
20 {The Lord says,}<br />
“{Babylon,} you are my club.<br />
I used you to smash nations.<br />
I used you to destroy kingdoms.<br />
21 I used you to smash horse and rider.<br />
I used you to smash chariot and driver.<br />
22 I used you to smash men and women.<br />
I used you to smash men, old and young.<br />
I used you to smash young men<br />
and young women.<br />
23 I used you to smash shepherds and flocks.<br />
I used you to smash farmers and cows.<br />
I used you to smash governors<br />
and important officials.<br />
24 But I will pay Babylon back.<br />
I will pay all the Babylonian people back.<br />
I will pay them back for all the bad things<br />
that they did to Zion.*<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
936<br />
I will pay them back so that you can see<br />
it, Judah.”<br />
The Lord said those things.<br />
25 The Lord says,<br />
“Babylon, you are a destroying mountain,<br />
and I am against you.<br />
Babylon, you destroyed the whole country,<br />
and I am against you.<br />
I will put my hand out against you.<br />
I will roll you off the cliffs.<br />
I will make you into a burned-up<br />
mountain.<br />
26 People will not take any rocks from Babylon<br />
to use for the foundation of a building.<br />
People will not find any rocks<br />
big enough for cornerstones.<br />
Why? Because your city will be<br />
a pile of broken rocks forever.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
27 “Lift up the war flag in the land!<br />
Blow the trumpet in all the nations!<br />
Prepare the nations for war against Babylon!<br />
Call these kingdoms to come fight<br />
against Babylon:<br />
Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.<br />
Choose a commander to lead the army<br />
against her.<br />
Send so many horses<br />
that they are like a swarm of locusts.*<br />
28 Get the nations ready for battle against her.<br />
Get the kings of the Medes* ready.<br />
Get their governors and all their important<br />
officials ready.<br />
Get all the countries they rule ready for<br />
battle against Babylon.<br />
29 The land shakes and moves like it is in pain.<br />
It will shake when the Lord does what<br />
he planned to Babylon.<br />
The Lord’s plan is to make the land of<br />
Babylon into an empty desert.<br />
No person will live there.<br />
30 Babylon’s soldiers have stopped fighting.<br />
They stay in their forts.<br />
locusts Insects like grasshoppers that could destroy a large crop<br />
very quickly.<br />
Medes People from the Medo-Persian Empire. This empire<br />
defeated the country Babylon.
Their strength is gone.<br />
They have become like scared women.<br />
Babylon’s houses are burning.<br />
The bars of her gates are broken.<br />
31 One messenger follows another.<br />
Messenger follows messenger.<br />
They announce to the king of Babylon<br />
that his whole city has been captured.<br />
32 The places where people cross the rivers<br />
have been captured.<br />
The swamplands are burning.<br />
All of Babylon’s soldiers are afraid.”<br />
33 The Lord All-Powerful,<br />
the God of the people of Israel, says:<br />
“Babylon is like a threshing floor.*<br />
At harvest time, people beat grain<br />
to separate the good parts from<br />
the chaff.*<br />
And the time to beat Babylon<br />
is coming soon.<br />
34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,<br />
destroyed us in the past.<br />
In the past, Nebuchadnezzar hurt us.<br />
In the past, he took our people away,<br />
and we became like an empty jar.<br />
He took the best we had.<br />
He was like a giant monster<br />
that ate everything until it was full.<br />
He took the best we had<br />
and threw us away.<br />
35 Babylon did terrible things to hurt us.<br />
Now I want those things<br />
to happen to Babylon.”<br />
The people living in Zion* said these things:<br />
“The people of Babylon are guilty<br />
of killing our people.<br />
Now they are being punished<br />
for the bad things they did.”<br />
The city of Jerusalem said those things.<br />
36 So the Lord says:<br />
“I will defend you, Judah.<br />
threshing floor A place where grain is beaten or walked on to<br />
remove the hulls from the grain.<br />
chaff The seed coverings and stems separated from the seeds of<br />
plants like wheat or barley. Farmers saved the seeds but let the<br />
wind blow the useless chaff away.<br />
Zion The southeast part of the mountain Jerusalem is built on.<br />
Sometimes it means the people of God living in Jerusalem.<br />
937 JEREMIAH 51:31–43<br />
I will make sure<br />
that Babylon is punished.<br />
I will dry up Babylon’s sea.<br />
And I will make her water springs<br />
become dry.<br />
37 Babylon will become<br />
a pile of ruined buildings.<br />
Babylon will be a place for wild dogs<br />
to live.<br />
People will look at that pile of rocks<br />
and be amazed.<br />
People will shake their heads<br />
when they think about Babylon.<br />
Babylon will be a place<br />
where no people live.<br />
38 “The people of Babylon<br />
are like roaring young lions.<br />
They growl like baby lions.<br />
39 Those people are acting like powerful lions.<br />
I will give a party for them.<br />
I will make them drunk.<br />
They will laugh and have a good time.<br />
And then they will sleep forever.<br />
They will never wake up.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
40 “Babylon will be like sheep, rams,<br />
and goats<br />
waiting to be killed.<br />
I will lead them to the slaughter.<br />
41 “Sheshach* will be defeated.<br />
The best and proudest country<br />
of the whole earth<br />
will be taken captive.<br />
People from other nations<br />
will look at Babylon,<br />
and the things they see<br />
will make them afraid.<br />
42 The sea will rise over Babylon.<br />
Its roaring waves will cover her.<br />
43 Babylon will be like a dry, desert land.<br />
Its cities will be empty ruins.<br />
No people will live in those cities.<br />
No people will even travel through them.<br />
Sheshach <strong>Jeremiah</strong> used a special code to create this name. It is<br />
like the code an army might use. It is a secret word for<br />
Babylon.
JEREMIAH 51:44–58<br />
44 I will punish the false god Bel* in Babylon.<br />
I will make him vomit out the people<br />
that he swallowed.<br />
The wall around Babylon will fall.<br />
And other nations will stop coming<br />
to Babylon.<br />
45 Come out of the city of Babylon, my people.<br />
Run to save your lives.<br />
Run from the Lord’s great anger.<br />
46 “Don’t be sad, my people.<br />
Rumors will spread, but don’t be afraid.<br />
One rumor comes this year.<br />
Another rumor will come next year.<br />
There will be rumors about terrible fighting<br />
in the country.<br />
There will be rumors about rulers fighting<br />
against other rulers.<br />
47 The time will surely come—<br />
I will punish the false gods of Babylon.<br />
And the whole land of Babylon<br />
will be put to shame.<br />
There will be many, many dead people,<br />
lying in the streets of that city.<br />
48 Then heaven and earth and all that is in them<br />
will shout with joy about Babylon.<br />
They will shout because<br />
an army came from the north<br />
and fought against Babylon.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
49 “Babylon killed people from Israel.<br />
Babylon killed people<br />
from every place on earth.<br />
So Babylon must fall!<br />
50 You people escaped the swords.<br />
You must hurry and leave Babylon.<br />
Don’t wait!<br />
You are in a faraway land.<br />
But remember the Lord where you are.<br />
And remember Jerusalem.”<br />
51 “We people of Judah are ashamed.<br />
We have been insulted.<br />
Why? Because strangers have gone into<br />
the Holy Places of the Lord’s temple.”<br />
Bel This is one of the names of the god Marduk, the most<br />
important god of the Babylonians.<br />
938<br />
52 The Lord says,<br />
“The time is coming, when I will punish<br />
the idols of Babylon.<br />
At that time, wounded people will cry<br />
with pain everywhere in that country.<br />
53 Babylon might grow<br />
until she touches the sky.<br />
Babylon might make her forts strong.<br />
But I will send people<br />
to fight against that city.<br />
And those people will destroy her.”<br />
The Lord said these things.<br />
54 “We can hear people crying in Babylon.<br />
We hear the sound of people destroying<br />
things in the land of Babylon.<br />
55 The Lord will destroy Babylon very soon.<br />
He will stop the loud noises in that city.<br />
Enemies will come roaring in<br />
like ocean waves.<br />
People all around will hear that roar.<br />
56 The army will come and destroy Babylon.<br />
Babylon’s soldiers will be captured.<br />
Their bows will be broken.<br />
Why? Because the Lord punishes people<br />
for the bad things they do.<br />
The Lord gives them the full punishment<br />
that they deserve.<br />
57 I will make Babylon’s wise men<br />
and important officials drunk.<br />
I will make the governors, officers,<br />
and soldiers drunk too.<br />
Then they will sleep forever.<br />
They will never wake up.”<br />
The King said these things.<br />
His name is the Lord All-Powerful.<br />
58 The Lord All-Powerful says:<br />
“Babylon’s thick, strong wall<br />
will be pulled down.<br />
Her high gates will be burned.<br />
The people of Babylon will work hard,<br />
but it will not help.<br />
They will become very tired<br />
trying to save the city.<br />
But they will only become fuel<br />
for the flames.”
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> Sends a Message to Babylon<br />
59This is the message that <strong>Jeremiah</strong> gave to<br />
the officer Seraiah.* Seraiah was the son of<br />
Neriah. Neriah was the son of Mahseiah.<br />
Seraiah went to Babylon with Zedekiah king<br />
of Judah. This happened in the fourth year<br />
that Zedekiah was king of Judah.* At that<br />
time, <strong>Jeremiah</strong> gave this message to Seraiah,<br />
the officer. 60<strong>Jeremiah</strong> had written on a<br />
scroll* all the terrible things that would<br />
happen to Babylon. He had written all these<br />
things about Babylon.<br />
61<strong>Jeremiah</strong> said to Seraiah, “Seraiah, go to<br />
Babylon. Be sure to read this message so all the<br />
people can hear you. 62Then say, ‘Lord, you<br />
have said that you will destroy this place,<br />
Babylon. You will destroy it so that no people<br />
or animals will live in it. This place will be an<br />
empty ruin forever.’ 63After you finish reading<br />
this scroll, tie a stone to it. Then throw this<br />
scroll* into the Euphrates River. 64Then say, ‘In<br />
the same way, Babylon will sink. Babylon will<br />
rise no more. Babylon will sink because of the<br />
terrible things that I will make happen here.’”<br />
The words of <strong>Jeremiah</strong> end here.<br />
The Fall of Jerusalem<br />
Zedekiah was 21 years old when he<br />
52became king of Judah. Zedekiah ruled<br />
in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s<br />
name was Hamutal daughter of <strong>Jeremiah</strong>.*<br />
Hamutal’s family was from the town of<br />
Libnah. 2Zedekiah did evil things, just like<br />
King Jehoiakim had done. The Lord did not<br />
like Zedekiah doing those evil things.<br />
3Terrible things happened to Jerusalem and<br />
Judah because the Lord was angry with them.<br />
Finally, the Lord threw the people of<br />
Jerusalem and Judah away from his presence.<br />
Zedekiah rebelled against the king of<br />
Babylon. 4So, in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s<br />
rule, on the tenth day of the tenth month*<br />
Seraiah Seraiah was a brother of Baruch, <strong>Jeremiah</strong>’s secretary.<br />
fourth year … king of Judah That is, 594 B.C.<br />
scroll A long roll of leather or papyrus (paper) used for writing<br />
books, letters, and legal documents.<br />
<strong>Jeremiah</strong> This is not <strong>Jeremiah</strong> the prophet, but a different man<br />
with the same name.<br />
ninth year … tenth month That is, January of 588 B.C.<br />
939 JEREMIAH 51:59–52:13<br />
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, marched<br />
against Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar had his<br />
whole army with him. The army of Babylon set<br />
up their camp outside of Jerusalem. Then they<br />
built ramps all around the city walls {so they<br />
could get over those walls}. 5The city of<br />
Jerusalem was surrounded by the army of<br />
Babylon until the eleventh year that Zedekiah<br />
was king.* 6By the ninth day of the fourth<br />
month of that year, the hunger in the city was<br />
very bad. There was no food left for the people<br />
in the city to eat. 7On that day, the army of<br />
Babylon broke into Jerusalem. The soldiers of<br />
Jerusalem ran away. They left the city at night.<br />
They went through the gate between the two<br />
walls. That gate was near the king’s garden.<br />
Even though the army of Babylon had<br />
surrounded the city, the soldiers of Jerusalem<br />
still ran away. They ran away toward the desert.<br />
8But the Babylonian army chased King<br />
Zedekiah. They caught him on the plains of<br />
Jericho. All of Zedekiah’s soldiers ran away.<br />
9The army of Babylon captured King<br />
Zedekiah. They took him to the king of<br />
Babylon at the city of Riblah. Riblah is in the<br />
land of Hamath. At Riblah the king of<br />
Babylon announced his judgment on King<br />
Zedekiah. 10There at the city of Riblah, the<br />
king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons.<br />
Zedekiah was forced to watch his sons being<br />
killed. The king of Babylon also killed all the<br />
king’s officials of Judah. 11Then the king of<br />
Babylon tore out Zedekiah’s eyes. He put<br />
bronze chains on him. Then he carried<br />
Zedekiah away to Babylon. In Babylon he put<br />
Zedekiah into prison. Zedekiah stayed in<br />
prison until the day he died.<br />
12Nebuzaradan, the commander of the king<br />
of Babylon’s special guard, came to Jerusalem.<br />
This was on the tenth day of the fifth month, in<br />
the 19th year that Nebuchadnezzar was king.*<br />
Nebuzaradan was an important leader in<br />
Babylon. 13Nebuzaradan burned the Lord’s<br />
temple. He also burned down the king’s house<br />
and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned<br />
down every important building in Jerusalem.<br />
eleventh year … king That is, 587 B.C.<br />
19th year … king That is, 587 B.C.
JEREMIAH 52:14–30<br />
940<br />
14The whole Babylonian army broke down the<br />
walls around Jerusalem. That army was under<br />
the commander of the king’s special guard.<br />
15Nebuzaradan, the commander, took the rest<br />
of the people that were still in Jerusalem* into<br />
captivity. He also carried away those that had<br />
surrendered to the king of Babylon earlier. He<br />
also carried away the skilled craftsmen that<br />
were left in Jerusalem. 16But Nebuzaradan left<br />
some of the poorest people behind in the land.<br />
He left those people to work in the vineyards<br />
and the fields.<br />
17The Babylonian army broke up the bronze<br />
columns of the temple. They also broke up the<br />
stands and the Bronze Tank* that were in the<br />
Lord’s temple. They carried all that bronze<br />
away to Babylon. 18The army of Babylon also<br />
took these things from the temple: pots,<br />
shovels, wick trimmers, large bowls, pans, and<br />
all the bronze things that were used in the<br />
temple service. 19The commander of the king’s<br />
special guards took these things away: basins,<br />
firepans, large bowls, pots, lampstands, pans,<br />
and bowls used for drink offerings. He took<br />
everything that was made of gold or silver.<br />
20The two pillars, the Sea and the twelve<br />
bronze bulls under it, and the moveable stands<br />
were very heavy. King Solomon had made<br />
those things for the Lord’s temple. The bronze<br />
that those things were made of was so heavy it<br />
could not be weighed.<br />
21Each of the bronze pillars was 27 feet*<br />
high. Each pillar was 18 feet* around. Each<br />
pillar was hollow. The walls of each pillar was<br />
4 inches* thick. 22The<br />
pomegranates too. It was like the first pillar.<br />
23There were 96 pomegranates on the sides of<br />
the pillars. All together, there were 100<br />
pomegranates above the net design that went<br />
around the pillars.<br />
24The commander of the king’s special<br />
guards took Seraiah and Zephaniah as<br />
prisoners. Seraiah was the high priest, and<br />
Zephaniah was the next highest priest. The<br />
three doorkeepers were also taken as<br />
prisoners.<br />
bronze capital on top of<br />
the first pillar was 7 1/2 feet* high. It was<br />
decorated with a net design and bronze<br />
pomegranates* all around it. The other pillar had<br />
25The commander of the king’s<br />
special guards also took the officer in charge<br />
of the fighting men. He also took seven of the<br />
king’s advisers as prisoners. Those men were<br />
still there in Jerusalem. He also took the<br />
scribe* that was in charge of putting people in<br />
the army. And he took 60 of the ordinary<br />
people that were there in the city.<br />
26–27Nebuzaradan, the commander, took all<br />
those officials. He brought them to the king of<br />
Babylon. The king of Babylon was at the city<br />
of Riblah. Riblah is in the country of Hamath.<br />
There at the city of Riblah, the king ordered<br />
all those officials to be killed.<br />
So the people of Judah were taken from<br />
their country. 28This is how many people<br />
Nebuchadnezzar carried into captivity:<br />
In Nebuchadnezzar’s 7th year* as<br />
king of Babylon, 3,023 men were taken<br />
from Judah.<br />
29In Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th year* as<br />
king of Babylon, 832 people were taken<br />
from Jerusalem.<br />
30In Nebuchadnezzar’s 23rd year* as<br />
king, Nebuzaradan took 745 men of<br />
Judah into captivity. Nebuzaradan was the<br />
commander of the king’s special guards.<br />
In all, 4,600 people were taken captive.<br />
the rest … Jerusalem This is from the ancient Greek<br />
translation. The Hebrew adds, “some of the poorest people”<br />
before this line. This seems to have been accidentally copied<br />
from the next verse.<br />
bronze columns … Bronze Tank These verses list the things<br />
that the Babylonian army took away from the Lord’s temple.<br />
For a description of the temple furniture, see 1 Kings 7:13-26.<br />
27 feet Literally, “18 cubits.”<br />
18 feet Literally, “12 cubits.”<br />
4 inches Literally, “4 fingers.”<br />
7 1/2 feet Literally, “7 cubits.”<br />
pomegranate(s) A red fruit containing many tiny seeds covered<br />
with a soft, juicy part of the fruit.<br />
scribe A man that wrote down and copied books and letters. He<br />
often become an expert at the meaning of those writings<br />
(Scriptures).<br />
Nebuchadnezzar’s 7th year That is from the middle of 598<br />
B.C. to the middle of 597 B.C.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar’s 18th year That is from the middle of 588<br />
B.C. to the middle of 587 B.C.<br />
Nebuchadnezzar’s 23rd year That is from the middle of 582<br />
B.C. to the middle of 581 B.C.
Jehoiachin Is Set Free<br />
31Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, was in<br />
prison in Babylon for 37 years. In the 37th<br />
year of his imprisonment,* Evil-Merodach, the<br />
king of Babylon, was very kind to Jehoiachin.<br />
He let Jehoiachin out of prison in that year.<br />
This was the same year that Evil-Merodach<br />
became king of Babylon. Evil-Merodach set<br />
Jehoiachin free from prison on the 25th day of<br />
37th year of his imprisonment That is, 561 B.C.<br />
941 JEREMIAH 52:31–34<br />
the 12th month. 32Evil-Merodach spoke in a<br />
kind way to Jehoiachin. He gave Jehoiachin a<br />
place of honor higher than the other kings that<br />
were with him in Babylon. 33So Jehoiachin<br />
took his prison clothes off. For the rest of his<br />
life, he ate regularly at the king’s table.<br />
34Every day the king of Babylon gave<br />
Jehoiachin an allowance. This continued until<br />
Jehoiachin died.
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